The Misplaced Gymnast
by Audrey Julianne
Summary: A sixteen year old girl is torn from her world and brought into another by the move of her parents. Someone returns to Angel Grove, regret filling her life and a desire to feel the love she once felt.
1. Bad News

A/N: This entire chapter takes place in Orlando, Florida. This chapter also happens to be the back story for my character, Audrey, the before she moved to Angel Grove part.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. I do, however, own Audrey, Mallory and Alana.

**Chapter One: Bad News**

Evans Home, Orlando, FL

Audrey Julianne Evans sat on her bed, leaning with her back against the wall. Her long blonde hair was in a ponytail and draped over her shoulder. In her hands, she held her sociology textbook and she was studying for her final. She sighed as her pink fingernails flipped through the pages of the book. Her parents had just told her earlier that evening that they would be moving. She had a couple more months before the move took place, but she didn't want to go.

"Closing on the new house is August 25th." Robert Evans had told his daughter.

"What?" Audrey asked in shock. "You mean I won't be here for my birthday?"

Mr. Evans shook his head. "I'm sorry, dear."

Audrey felt like she was going to scream. She wanted so badly to stay. All of her friends were here in Orlando and she was going all the way to some town in California, Angel Grove, she thought she heard her parents say. She sighed and tossed the book onto her bed. She stood up and walked to her door and down the stairs. "Dad?" She called.

"Yes, dear?" Mr. Evans called from his study.

"I was thinking about it, and you know Mallory and Alana, well they were looking for a third roommate." She said, wondering if her father would catch on.

"Most certainly not, young lady." Her father said. "You are sixteen years old, you're way too young to be moving out."

Audrey sighed. "I mean, given the circumstances..." She said. "That way, I could finish my senior year here instead of moving right before senior year hits."

Mr. Evans shook his head. "I'm sorry, Audrey, but we can't allow you to do that. You're going to have to move with us."

Audrey pouted and went back to her room. "This sucks so much." She said to the room around her. She was literally leaving everyone and everything she knew and she didn't have a choice at all.

Kimberly's Studio

Kimberly Hart was sitting in her office, looking over new registration forms. The phone rang, she sighed, she didn't really feel like talking to anyone. She wanted to get her work finished so she could go home. She turned and picked up the phone. "Kimberly Hart's Gymnastics Studio, this is Kimberly."

"Kim? It's Kat."

Wow, that was a shocker. She had kept in touch with Katherine Hillard, but she hadn't expected her to call her here. "Hey Kat, what's up?" She listened as Kat told her the story about coming back, only to find she didn't really feel she belonged there anymore. She needed to go to Australia, but a friend had given her the pink ninjetti power coin back.

"What does all of this have to do with calling me?" Kimberly asked her, confused. She had a feeling she knew, but she couldn't.

"I need you to come back and take my place." Kat told her. "As soon as you can."

"Kat, I can't." Kimberly told her. She sighed. "I can't be a ranger anymore."

Kat was shocked, had something happened to Kimberly? "Why not?" She asked her.

Kimberly explained to Kat that she had passed her powers on to another.

Kat sighed, defeated. She had to go home, but she needed someone to take her place. She trusted no one more than her predecessor to the power.

Kimberly thought about it for a moment. Her powers had definitely taken a toll on her body and she didn't want to go through passing them on on her deathbed again, but maybe it would work. "Kat, pass your powers to me when I get there."

Kat sounded hopeful. "Really? You'll come?"

"Yeah, I'll come." After the phone call ended, Kimberly called the airport and made arrangements for a flight the next morning. The next phone call would be harder. She dialed the number.

"Meyers residence." Said a masculine voice.

"Frank, can I speak to Dana, please?"

"Yes, ma'am." Came the answer.

A feminine voice came on a little while later. "This is Dana."

"Hey Dana, it's Kim."

"What's up?" Dana asked. "Are you still at the studio?" She wondered if Kim needed help with something.

"I'm moving back home tomorrow." Kimberly told her. "I need you to take over in my absense."

Dana asked a few questions, but Kimberly refused her answers.

Evans Home

"This sucks so much." Audrey pouted on the phone to her best friends Mallory and Alana. Mallory Parker and her little sister Alana were on speaker phone with Audrey in their new apartment. As soon as Mallory turned eighteen, both girls moved out of the Parker home on their own.

"I know." Alana answered. "What are we going to do without you?"

"We aren't!" Mallory said. "We just can't. You can't leave us Audrey." She, too, was bordering on pouting.

"Have you asked your parents about moving in with us?" Alana asked as though she had just had a great idea.

Audrey nodded sadly, knowing the girls couldn't see her. "Yeah, I did. Dad said no." She sighed and turned on her back, she was lying on the bed on her cell phone.

"Why? Alana's sixteen and our parents finally agreed." Mallory said, sounding desperate. Her best friend for life couldn't just move across the country. She wasn't going to let it happen.

"That's _your_ parents, Mal, not mine. Mine think I have to live with them until I'm eighteen." Alana said, sighing. "Unfortunately, I won't be eighteen until after I start college, meaning I can't even come back to Orlando for college."

"You're kidding!" Alana exclaimed. "Your parents will force you to stay in hell just because you'll turn eighteen in college?"

Alana sighed. "Yes, they will."

"That's bordering on child abuse!" Mallory exclaimed. She knew it wasn't, but she valued having her choice of college and only decided to stay in Orlando because of her sister and her best friend, who wasn't even going to be there anymore.

Audrey couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think the police would agree with that." She stood up and looked out the window toward the empty driveway. Her parents had said they would be home by now. However, it was just like them to not be there when they said.

"I'm really going to miss you, Audrey." Alana said, now the third person in the conversation pouting.

"I know, I'm gonna miss you too, 'Lana, and Mally as well." Audrey sighed, sitting at her desk.

"You know I'll miss you too, love." Mallory answered.

Audrey glanced at her clock again. She had a few errands to run before gymnastics class and it looked like she would be walking. "I gotta go guys. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, we'll come by after your class." Mallory answered. "Later Audrey."

"Bye Audrey." Alana echoed.

"Bye guys." Audrey said, ending the call and tossing her phone into her gym bag. "If they can't keep promises, why can't I just stay here?" She muttered as she locked the door and began walking.

Kimberly's Studio

Kimberly still wouldn't tell Dana a thing about where she was going or why. Dana found it odd that Kimberly never talked about home. She knew Kimberly had a love there once, but that was a painful subject for her. It seemed to Dana that after all of these years, Kimberly had never quite gotten over this guy. Was that why she was going home? Because of him? She continued helping Kim pack her things from the office so Dana could move in. It was their hope that Dana could be moved in before the classes began arriving. Kimberly wanted to be gone, especially before her best student got in. How would she tell Audrey she was leaving like this?

"Are you going to keep in touch, Kim?" Dana asked, hopefully. She and Kim had become pretty good friends.

"I don't know any information right now." Kim said, blankly. "I know where to find you though." She smiled weakly at her friend.

Dana thought it seemed odd that Kimberly seemed to not be thrilled about going. She could almost feel Kimberly's pain. She still wasn't over the mystery man and it pained her that she might run into him.

"Kim?" Dana asked, placing a gentle, friendly hand on her friend and bosses shoulder. "Do you need to talk?" Dana was very curious about the man who had Kimberly's heart. Could he still feel the same way? Dana's guess was that Kimberly assumed not. What happened?

Kimberly shook her head, then shook Dana'a hand off her shoulder. "I'm fine. I'm just going to miss this place." She said softly. That was partially true. She loved her students and her work here. It was going to be hard to let go, which was why she wanted to get this finished before her students came in. The other part was that she wasn't sure how she would react to being back in Angel Grove. Who would she see? Would they have missed her? Would she run into Tommy? Would he hate her. She shook her head as tears slowly came to her eyes. The thought of Tommy Oliver hating her was too painful. _Can I say I didn't deserve it?_ She thought to herself. She had broken his heart. She wrote the letter, a lie, breaking up with him. Now if she ran into him, she would have to face it. Would there be as much pain in his face that was in her heart right now? Or would he have gotten over it and her? Did Tommy get married?

Dana saw the tears. She knew something was wrong, but Kimberly wasn't talking and she wasn't going to press. She had to admit though, she was worried about Kimberly. Was this move really a good idea?

Parker Sisters' Home

"We've got to move!" Mallory exclaimed to Alana.

Alana looked at her sister, confused. "Where?" She asked her, not catching on to what Mallory was saying.

"California. Angel Grove." She smiled.

Alana shook her head. "Mom and dad would say no." She said, sadly. She knew they were really unsure about Alana moving in with Mal in the same city, moving her across country would be worse.

Mallory ran her fingers through her short, recently dyed blonde hair. "We can't just stay here. I'll miss her too much." She said, pouting.

"I will too, but do you really see mom and dad going along with it?" Alana asked. She was a dreamer, but she couldn't get her hopes up, not this time.

Mallory shrugged. "It's worth a shot." She said. "Mom and dad know I'm responsible and I can get you to be responsible. They also know you listen to me more than you do them."

Alana nodded. This was true. She did respond to Mallory more than her own parents. "I guess we could try..." She said finally.

Mallory smiled. She loved how she could convince her sister to do just about anything. They all win this time though, if they can get their parents to agree.

Alana smiled too, she was starting to dream now. _Mom, dad, please don't tear my hopes apart._ She thought silently, as she imagined moving to this town to be near her friend.

"Don't say anything to Audrey about it though, just in case it doesn't work. We have a few months to try to talk mom and dad into it." Mallory said.

Alana nodded. That was true, time was on their side, for now, anyway. "I wish Mr. and Mrs. Evans gave Audrey the freedom mom and dad gave us, then she could at least stay here."

Mallory sighed. "I know, 'Lana. I know."

Kimberly's Studio

It wasn't like Audrey Evans was ever given a choice though. The only choice she was ever given was between gymnastics and figure skating, she chose the former and didn't regret it. However she lived what the others called a priveledged life, but she didn't see the priveledge in being rich. It cause more strain on her than her friends understood.

That was Audrey, the poor little rich girl. No one understood her, no one cared to try. Her parents were the most guilty of this. They were so involved in giving her a priveledged life, that they didn't care about the small things. The things that said "we love you, Audrey" or "we care."

As Audrey walked up to the gymnastics studio, she thought about what it would do to Kimberly to see her star pupil leave. She walked in and went into the locker room to change.

"Hey Ally." One of the girls said. "Did you hear Kim left?"

This grabbed Audrey's attention. "Left where?" She asked Brittany.

Brittany glanced at the intruder in the conversation. "Oh hey, Aud." She said, then she shrugged. "No clue, I just heard she went home."

"Is she coming back?" Audrey asked her.

"Doesn't sound like it. Dana's moving into her office now."

Audrey walked out of the room and headed toward Kim's office. Brittany was right, Dana was moving her things in. "Where did Kim go?" Audrey asked her.

Dana looked in sympathy at Audrey, she knew thta Kim and Audrey shared a bond. "She moved back home."

"What?" Audrey asked. This was insane. She ran out of the building, leaving her gym bag in the locker room. How could Kim have left without a word to Audrey? It didn't seem like her.

As Audrey got home, she wondered where 'home' actually was for Kim. She knew she wasn't originally from Orlando, or even Florida, but where?

She tried to recall the few short conversations she had with Kim. Nothing about her home or her past had come up. It didn't matter though, Audrey was stuck going to Angel Grove. Whereever Kim was, Audrey would probably never see her again.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, hopefully the others will be longer and better. Anyway, R/R please! I should be posting chapter 2 today as well, I just need to get it finished.


	2. Meeting People

A/N: In this chapter, Audrey has arrived in Angel Grove and her friends, still unsuccessful at getting their parents to agree refuse to give up.

Thank you to **Lavonne Adams **and **serena4ever2006**. There are some more old characters introduced in this chapter. I hope you like.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything related.

**Chapter Two: Meeting People**

Evans Home, Angel Grove, CA

Audrey sighed as she unpacked her things in her new bedroom. As much as she hated to admit it, this was now home. She walked over to her window and looked out over the town. Tears filled her eyes. She walked over to her bed and picked up the stuffed dolphin Mallory and Alana gave her as a going away present. She sat on her bed, leaning against her pillow, clutching her dolphin tightly. Why did her parents have to move her here? Why did she have to leave all of her friends, everything she knew. She wiped her tears away as she stared straight ahead. She glanced down at her pink nails. They needed to be repainted. She walked out of her room and to her bathroom. She looked around, but she couldn't find any remover. "Mom!" She called. She must not have unpacked it, but maybe her mom knew where hers was.

"Yes, dear?" Alyssa Evans came to her daughter's bathroom. She looked just like an older version of her daughter. She had the same blonde hair and their facial features resembled one another so much.

"Do you know where your nail polish remover is?" She asked, wiping away another tear.

If Alyssa noticed her daughter had been crying, it didn't show. "Yes, I do." She walked away and returned a few minutes later with a bottle of remover. Audrey took it and walked back into her room. She picked up a bottle of pink nail polish off the dresser and walked over to her desk. She started crying more as she removed it. The last time her nails were painted, she was over at Mallory and Alana's house. They had all painted one another's nails. She let her nails dry, then began slowly painting them again. As the tears ran down her cheeks, she couldn't wipe them away.

Kimberly's Studio

Kimberly Hart sat in her office in her new studio. Somehow in the past three months she had managed to completely avoid Tommy Oliver. _Maybe in addition to moving on, he moved away._ She thought bitterly to herself. She sighed as she looked out the window. She had also not really run into anyone else yet. The one she wanted to see the most, yet dreaded all at the same time was Tommy. Her first love, her only love. She began making phone calls, trying to get equipment for her studio. As soon as she got equipment and a receptionist, she could begin classes, as long as she got students, that is.

While she made her phone calls, memories flooded her from years ago.

_Tears ran down Kimberly's cheek as she wrote the letter. Why was she writing the letter? There wasn't anyone else and if Tommy really knew her, he would know that. Would this letter really make him happy? That was what she was going for. The sole reason for writing this letter was to allow him to move on, not tie him down to a girl all the way across the country. She was doing this for his happiness, not hers. It was that thought that drove her on. This was in no way making her happy. It was killing her. Would Tommy hate her? She decided, as she wrote the letter, she could never move back to Angel Grove. She could never see the hate in his eyes. She couldn't bear it. Along with this letter, Florida was becoming her home, for good._

Kimberly laughed ironically. If Florida was her home, what was she doing back here? _You're here because Kat asked you to come._ Kat had finished the transfer and returned to Australia. Kimberly was here alone and she felt it. She hadn't seen anyone from her past, but she was possibly avoiding them all at the same time. Possibly? No, she was. In her time there, she had avoided any place she might run into her old friends. Why was she so worried about running into them? Because she had lost contact with each of them. She missed them, that was for sure. All of them. Tommy, her love. Even after all of these years, her love for him still flourished. It was true that she hoped whereever he was, he was happy. She also just wanted to know he didn't hate her. Was it possible he didn't? Trini, her best friend. Trini had left before she had, but she had been her best friend through so many years. She was the one Kimberly told everything about her feelings for Tommy and eventually her relationship with him. Jason, her other best friend. He also left Angel Grove before she did. He was there for her in so many ways. In addition to Tommy, he was her strength. There were times she wanted to give up and Jason refused to let her. Zack, the final one to leave before her, he was the comedian. If you ever wanted a good laugh, you could count on Zack. Then there was Billy. The brains. She never understood what he had to say, but until Trini left, she was always able to translate. He was also a very loyal friend, though very shy. After Trini, Jason and Zack left, she met three new friends, also very wonderful friends. Aisha replaced Trini as her confidant, but they lacked some of the oldness of the Trini and Kimberly friendship. Rocky and Adam were Jason and Zack's replacements respectively. She wasn't as close to either of them as she was to Jason or Zack, but she still valued their frienships. The last one was Kat. Kat was her own replacement. Their time together in Angel Grove was short and Kat had been against her, but in the end, they became close. Kat was actually the only one Kimberly kept contact with. She knew that Kat and Tommy dated, but she also knew they broke up. Beyond that, she didn't know what happened to Tommy, but she followed Kat's story back to Australia and eventually back to Angel Grove for a short time. _She felt like she didn't belong._ Kimberly thought to herself._ The same feeling I'm getting._

She sighed as she continued getting busy signals. She hung up the phone and walked out of her office. She needed a break, desperately. She walked over to a few chairs she had assembled in the main room and picked up her guitar and began playing. That was another passion of hers that she never gave up. She was a gymnast, but she also loved music. She strummed a soothing tune on her guitar and began singing random lyrics to it.

Evans Home

Audrey lay on her bed looking over a map of Angel Grove. Was it really possible this place didn't have a gymnastics studio anywhere? She would have to go to LA for that then. That would, of course, provide complications. Her only source of transportation was her parents cars and they spent way too much time at the office. She couldn't expect it to be any different here. She heard her cell phone go off and walked over to her desk to pick it up. She glanced at the number. _Mallory and Alana!_ The thought excitedly. "Hey!" She said, forcing a little happiness to her tone. She was glad to hear from them, but she hated being here.

"Hey Aud." Mallory said. "How's it going?"

"Horribly." Audrey sighed, sitting on her bed.

"I figured as much." Alana said. It seemed they had her on speakerphone again.

"Yeah..." She said, thoughtfully. "I really wish I could go back, you guys."

"We wish you could too!" Mallory said. "We miss you so much."

"I miss you guys too, more than you know." At least Mallory and Alana still had everything familiar to them. The only thing they were lacking was her. She lacked everything.

"I'm sure." Alana said. She understood this had to be much harder for Audrey than her or her sister.

"We want you home so so much!" Mallory exclaimed.

"I want to be home just as much as you want me home." Audrey said, sadly. _Or possibly more._ She thought. She didn't want her friends to know how miserable she felt here.

The three talked on the phone for a couple more minutes before the sisters had to go.

Audrey ended the call and grabbed her gym bag, slipping her cell phone inside.

She walked through town, hoping to find someplace to at least do some floor excersizes.

Kimberly's Studio

Kimberly sat there a little longer after finishing her song, then slowly set her guitar down. She walked out of the studio and began walking through town. She really didn't want to run into anyone, but she needed fresh air. She had thus far succeeded in avoiding her old friends, however, memories were a little harder to avoid. They were equally as hard to stomach. Everywhere she went held memories of her and Tommy. Her love as strong as ever, she ached to be in his arms again.

Tommy used to call her Beautiful. It was a nickname that she had come to love. She longed to hear him call her that name again. She longed to be his Beautiful once more.

"Kim?" She was torn from her thoughts by a voice. She looked at the girl.

"Audrey Evans?" She asked, not quite sure if she was seeing things.

"The one and the same." Audrey answered, completely shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here." Kimberly answered, feeling bad once again for leaving her students without a word. She looked away slightly. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Audrey asked her, confused.

"For leaving the school. For leaving you." Kimberly answered. Audrey had been her starlet. She was going to be something one day and Kimberly was determined to get her there. That was, of course, until she left.

Audrey shrugged. "It's alright. I went to the school with bad news that day anyway."

Kimberly looked at her shocked. "You didn't quit did you?"

Audrey shook her head and laughed. "Me? Quit? No. I found out the night before that I was moving here." She waved her hand around at her new 'home'. "Closing on the house was today and we just finished moving everything in."

Kimberly stood there in shock. Audrey moved here? She could still teach her. _She's in danger_. Kimberly thought. Now wasn't the time to tell Audrey though. "Well, I'm opening a studio here in town, if you're interested."

Audrey smiled. "Really? Here? You? Yes!" She was unable to form a complete thought, but studying under Kimberly again was going to be great.

Kimberly smiled. Her first student, one of her own former students. Not only that, but her best former student. "Great, the equipment isn't in yet, but I'll go ahead and get you a form. In the meantime, you might check the youth center."

"For classes?" Audrey asked, not understanding.

"For equipment to practice on." Kimberly answered.

"Oh, alright. I'll check it out." Audrey said, happy to have found not only a place to practice, but also a place to take classes, and her former instructor at that.

Youth Center

Audrey was doing a difficult part of the routine Kimberly had taught her right before she had left Orlando. When Kim left, Audrey had decided she was going to perfect the entire routine and show it to Kim if she ever came to visit. She sort of slacked when she found out she was moving, but now that she was under Ms. Hart's training again, she was determined to succeed. At a stopping point, she toward the juice bar and caught someone's eye. She smiled at him, then proceeded to finish the routine.

He smiled and as she finished and walked over to her and extended his hand "Hi I am Tommy Oliver by your routine, I would guess you know Kim."

Audrey nodded. "Hello, Mr. Oliver." She said politely. "I'm Audrey Evans, and as a matter of fact I do." She said. "She was my instructor in Orlando."

"Yeah, I knew it. I watched her practice it over and over a long time ago. Well sorry to bother you." He walked back up to his table and sat down.

"You knew Kim a long time ago?" Audrey asked him. "Like before she went to Pan Global?"

"Yeah. Wow she never talked about me. That hurts, I thought we were really close." He smiled and looked down.

"Are you kidding?" Audrey asked. "In class?" She shook her head. "She talked about nothing but gymnastics. I wouldn't take it personally." Audrey had actually heard _nothing_ about Kim's past... ever.

He smiled at her and scratched his head. "Yeah, you got a point anyway..."

Audrey smiled. "I'm sure if she talked about anyone, she would talk about you. I mean... who wouldn't?"

"Well are you going to the high school? If you are I might be teaching one of your classes." He smiled and stood up.

Audrey nodded. "I'm a senior. Really? What do you teach?"

"All the science classes and a little history." He put on his jacket. "Too bad your not a little older, or I would have asked you to dinner. Well, I am gonna have to get going see you in class." He smiled and started walking out.

"Alright." Audrey said. "Seeya." As she walked back over to the balance beam she wondered why she never had any gorgeous teachers in Orlando.

Tommy smiled walking to his car. He opened the door and sat in the driver's seat and smiled. "Maybe it wasnt a good idea for me to leave my number for one of my students, no matter how cute they are. She will probably think I am some wierd old man." he laughed and shut his car door and closed his eyes seeing him put a piece of paper on her back with his number on it.

After finishing her practice and changing, Audrey was packing her work out clothes away and a piece of paper fell to the floor. She picked it up, it was a number. To where though?

He pulled in his drive way and leans back in his car and sighed. "What was I doing? Maybe she wont see my name on it so she won't call or maybe she will not see it all together." He smiled an opened up his door.

Audrey looked at the paper, she was curious now. Then she saw the name. _Tommy Oliver? When did he slip that to her? _She debated calling the number, but she wasn't sure if she should. She didn't want to look like a boycrazy high school student, nevermind the fact she was a high school student.

He looked at his cell phone and smiled. "I want you to ring and I dont want you to." He laughed a little and got out of his car.

Parker Sisters' Home, Orlando, FL

Alana walked into the apartment she shared with her sister and sighed. "That went well." She said dryly.

"We're close." Mallory said. "I can feel it."

Alana sighed. Her hopes were dashed. There would be no way her parents would consent to her going to Orlando. Mallory was free to go, as long as Alana moved back in with them. She wanted to go with Mallory and she had stated she wasn't leaving without her sister anyway. "We're no closer than we were three months ago." She whoned at her sister as she fell back onto the couch.

"No, we're close." Mallory said. There were things Alana didn't know. Like when the Parkers pulled Mallory to the back room today.

_"Mallory, come here for a second." Mrs. Parker said to her oldest daugther._

_"What is it, mother?" Mallory asked, annoyed that her parents were still refusing to let Alana go._

_"We want to show you something." Mr. Parker said._

_"My wedding dress. You'll fit into it one day." Mrs. Parker confirmed with a smile._

_"I'm not even dating anyone right now, mom." Mallory protested, but they pulled her to the back anyway._

_Once in the back room, Mrs. Parker closed the door. "You'll take care of her?" She said to her daughter._

_"You should already know I am." Mallory said, not catching on._

_Mr. Parker smiled. "It's different across the country. Away from your parents. How do we know you'll still take care of her the same way?"_

_That was when Mallory caught on. Her parents who were set on the decision to force their youngest daughter to stay in Orlando were actually considering this? "Of course I will!" She said, trying not to sound too excited._

_"We'll see about that." Mrs. Parker said, before opening the door. "See, I told you, it'll fit you perfectly." She said, now that Alana could hear once again._

_"It's really beautiful mom, but I'm still single." Mallory said, playing along._

_"For now." Mr. Parker said. "One day though..."_

"You wish." Alana pouted. "I'm stuck here forever."

"Maybe." Mallory said with a knowing smile.

"Definitely." Alana answered. "I guess it's good we didn't tell Audrey, huh?"

"Oh come on, 'Lana, don't give up now." Mallory was getting exasperated.

"How can I not give up? Mom and dad are set on me staying in Orlando."

"Maybe." Mallory said, her smile returning.

Alana glanced at her sister. "What do you know?"

"Nothing."

"You know something."

"Nope, I know what you know. Nothing more, nothing less."

Angel Grove, CA

As Audrey walked home from the youth center, her mind was on Dr. Oliver. _I can't believe he's a teacher._ She said, she held his phone number in her hand, wondering if she could really call it and why he would leave his number with a sixteen year old. A sixteen year old who was developing her first crush in six months, on a teacher , no less. Her mind wasn't only on the fact that she was developing a crush on him, though. It was also on his reaction to her not having heard of him before. He seemed really hurt that Kim hadn't mentioned him. Why?

While lost in her thoughts, Audrey accidentally bumped into someone. "Oh! Sorry!" She said.

"It's alright." The man said. "Are you okay?"

Audrey nodded. "Yeah, I should have been paying better attention." Audrey extended her hand. "I'm Audrey."

"Jason." He answered. "Shouldn't you be getting home? It's a little late for you to be out alone, especially here."

Audrey disregarded the especially here statement and rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself, just fine, thanks." _I've only been doing so for sixteen years anyway. _She thought silently.

"Here, let me walk you home." Jason said, he wanted to keep an eye out for trouble. She obviously wasn't used to this area.

"If you insist." Audrey said. "Lived here long?" She asked as they walked.

"Almost my whole life." Came the reply.

_I wonder if he knows Kim, too, then._ She thought, he did look about that age. "I was just practicing gymnastics down at the youth center." She said, thinking if he knew Kim, this topic would get them on the subject.

"Oh? You're a gymnast?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah, I met my old gymnastics coach today and so I thought I would get back in practice for when she opens her studio." _Audrey Evans? Out of practice? Never!_

"Who's your old gymnastics coach?" Jason asked. "If she lives here, I may know her."

_Bingo!_ "Kimberly Hart."

"I know Kim." Jason said. "How is she doing?"

_Hmmm..._ Audrey thought. "She's good. I ran into someone else she knew at the youth center. Someone who seemed pretty upset I hadn't heard of him."

"Oh? Who is that?"

"Dr. Oliver." She answered.

Jason nodded. "I can see why he would be disappointed."

Audrey's curiousity was peaked. "Why?"

"That's not my place to say. I'd ask one of them."

Audrey sighed. Tommy wasn't talking and she wasn't sure she could get anything of Kim's mysterious past from her. "I guess I'll have to meet with Kim to ask her."

"Good idea."

"Anyway, here's my house." Audrey said, pointing up the way to a white two story house.

"Alright, I'll see you around."

Audrey nodded and walked up the path to the house. She went inside and upstairs to her bed. She lay on her bed a little while, holding the number in her hands. Could she call it?

A/N: So if Tommy looks like a perv in this chapter, he's really not, and this probably isn't going to go the way you're thinking. R/R please!


	3. Phone Call and More Bad News

A/N: I warn you, this is a really boring chapter. It's all transitional stuff, it has to happen before other things happen. By the way, the last chapter and the beginning of this one are August 25th, the last two parts of this one are the 26th.

Thank you to **riverkirby** and **Lavonne Adams** for your reviews. Just wait and see guys, this chapter has some more Audrey/Tommy stuff, but it will take a turn before too long.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.

**Chapter 3: Phone Call and More Bad News**

Evans Home, Angel Grove, CA

Audrey turned the paper over in her hand a few times, glancing at the number everytime it faced her. "Audrey Julianne!" She said, scolding herself. "You're acting like a child. He gave you the number, just call it." She bit her lip as she slowly dialed the number.

Tommy's phone rang as he walked into the door. He shut the door and answeared. "Hello. This Dr. Tommy Oliver."

Audrey hesitated. She felt like an idiot. Why would he want her to call him? He was a teacher, he probably had a history with her gymnastics coach! "Hi." She said in a small, meek voice. "This is Audrey." _Should I have said that?_

He smiled. "Hey you. I see you found the number I dropped on your bag. I don't know why I did."

Now she felt even more like an idiot. _He doesn't even know why he did._ She sighed softly. "I probably shouldn't have called, I'm sorry."

"Well its my fault. Don't feel bad, I am going to be your teacher. I shouldnt think your are beautiful in an unplatonic way." He slapped his forehead. "I'm sorry, I shouldnt have said that."

"It's alright." Audrey sighed. What she wouldn't give to be eighteen and graduated right now.

"I am really sorry. Maybe I should take the job at the college so you don't have to see the teach that has the hots for ya." He laughed a little, trying to lighten the mood.

"I could always drop out and pursue full time gymnastics training." She said. Now that was a joke, as much as she would love to pursue full time training, this straight-A student wasn't ready to give up that reputation, especially this close to graduating.

"I really want to see you." He sat down and looked at the floor. _What am I doing? I cant do this she is a student._

"Maybe I should just go back to Orlando." Audrey said. She was actually having mixed feelings about that, but it didn't matter, her parents wouldn't let her, short of her telling her conservative parents she was attracted to a teacher.

"No, don't. If we both are having the same feelings maybe, we should try this."

"I'm only almost seventeen, you could get into trouble." She said with another sigh, she scrunched her nose, almost seventeen didn't sound any better than sixteen, even if her birthday was in a few days.

"I am sorry, I don't mean to bother you." He sighed and leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"You're not bothering me, I just don't see any way of this working. You're my teacher, I'm a minor, my parents would kill me..." _And I'm convinced you had a past with my gymnastics coach_. She thought the last part to herself.

"Yeah your right, beauty and brains. I'll probably take the job at the college. I don't know if I can take the high school kids..." He laughed. "Well I am really sorry for this and I wish this could work, just know if you ever need me I am there."

Audrey nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Do what you think is best." She said softly. She wasn't sure if he had to go to the extent of going up to the college level though, but it was his choice. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks."

"Well I will probably be teaching both but the college job will come in handy. Don't have to worry about the awkwardly running into one another." He smiled not wanting to sound like he wanted to see her but you could here in his voice he did.

"I understand." She said, trying to hide her disappointment. Why did she have to be so damn practical?

"I am sorry I am not gonna lie. I do want to see you but if its going to be hard knowing we have these feelings. I think I might not teach this year and clear my head." He laughed again.

"That could work." Audrey said, softly. "I mean if you take a year off, by the time you come back, I'll be graduated and you won't have to worry about running into me at the high school."

"I think I will, but does that mean you dont want to see me?"

"Actually, it's the opposite." Audrey said. "I'm just thinking practically."

"Yeah, but practicality isn't any fun." He laughed. "We can still talk and hang out. I can help you with your school work too you know."

"Totally innocent?"

"It will be nothing more then two close friends hanging out, I promise."

"Alright." She said. "Fair enough."

"Why? You worried about being alone with me?" He smiled holding the phone.

"No, I just don't want to get you into trouble."

"Hey don't worry about it, okay. If it wouldn't mess with you in the eyes of other poeple, I would try giving us a try." He smiled on the phone hoping she knew he was backing off for her if he had it his way they would be together.

"It just wouldn't be right. I'm sixteen. It'll be another year before I'm even of legal age." Wow, that made sense, now he's gonna think she's bad at math. "That is a year and a few days anyway."

"I know I shouldnt be talking like this, but I just haven't felt like this in a while. I didnt want to just shut it down."

"I'm still sixteen." _A while since Kim, maybe?_

He laughed. "Yeah I know, sorry I'll drop it ok." He looked down sadly.

"It's just for the best." Audrey said, hoping he would understand.

"I know and I am sorry I pushed it this far so I guess we should both move on and just be friends then?" He was hoping she didnt have anyone lined up to be her boyfriend, but he knew it would hurt less if he asked.

"Yeah, that's probably best." Audrey said softly. She was too busy to think about guys anyway.

"Ok, well, I guess I'll talk to you later then?"

"Definitely." Audrey said.

"Goodbye then." He closed his phone and sat on his in chair thinking.

"Bye." Audrey said, then hung up her phone and fell back on her bed. She had been really stupid, what was she thinking?

Kimberly's Studio

The following afternoon, Kimberly stood in the studio as they began bringing the equipment in. She told them where each thing went and had them set it up. She began getting annoyed when they didn't set it up facing the right direction or it was a little crooked. "I put the tape there for a reason." She said, exasperated to one of the workers.

"I'm sorry, miss, it's hard to see the tape when you're moving the items."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll be in my office."

With that, she walked into her office and closed the door. She knew she shouldn't have snapped at them, but her ache for Tommy was getting worse. Why did she want to see him so bad when she went so long without coming home. "It has to be the memories." She said, aloud, finally. "It's because everything in this town reminds me of him." She walked outside her office and past the workers. She couldn't help but steal a glance and things still weren't being placed in the right spots. She walked outside into the fresh air. She sat on the step and watched the traffic go by. _If Tommy still lives here, where would he be?_ She thought, silently. Where would anyone be, really? This place seemed like a ghost town for her friends. She had yet to see a single one. They hadn't all moved away, had they? She decided they a little later she would begin looking up some of her old friends to see who might still be here. In the meantime, she had to get her studio set up, the way she wanted.

"Okay guys." She said, walking back into the room. "Here's the deal. I am paying for this stuff to be delivered and set up, I expect it done right. Before you got here, I put tape on the floor so you would know where to put things, please follow the tape."

After her little speech, she returned to walking around the floor, trying to make sure everything got placed where it needed to be. Once she was finally satisfied, the workers left and she returned to her office. She began going through registration forms figuring out which classes she had enough students for at the moment. Champion only had one student. Audrey. She would teach Audrey alone if she had to.

Parker Sisters' Home, Orlando, FL

"Mallory!" Alana called from the front door. "Mallory Jane Parker!"

"What?" Mallory stuck her head out her bedroom door.

"Audrey is going to be so ticked off." Alana said, sitting down on the couch. She had just returned from gymnastics practice at school and she had bad news for her sister and friend.

Mallory sat down next to her sister. "What is it?"

"You will never guess who this years gymnastics captain is." Alana rested her head on her sister's shoulder.

"Who?" Mallory asked, curious.

"Karissa."

"What?" Mallory looked at her sister. You're joking, right?

Alana just shook her head. "Coach Adams talked about how Audrey would have been captain and she would be really missed by the team. Then she said that since Audrey was gone, Karissa was the captain."

"That's an insult to Audrey." Mallory shrieked.

"Adams didn't mean it to be." Alana said. "She actually thinks her decision was a good one."

Mallory shook her head. "Adams is going senile."

Alana nodded. "You just figured that out?" She smirked.

"No, I've known it for a while." Mallory said, both girls giggled.

"Okay, so who is going to break the news to Audrey?" Alana asked, seriously.

"I don't know." Mallory bit her lip. "She's gonna be pissed."

Alana nodded. She wasn't looking forward to telling Audrey. It seemed Mallory shared her feelings.

"Well, one of us has to do it." Mallory said, sensibly. "How about we both do it."

Alana nodded. "Okay."

"Tomorrow."

Alana laughed. "Yes, tomorrow. I'm too tired to tell her today."

"And scared."

"That too."

A/N: Okay, I know this chapter was boring, it will get better, this was just mostly transitional stuff. R/R please!


	4. The Fall

A/N: This is August 27th.

No reviews to reply to this time.

Diclaimer: I keep forgetting to put this in my other chapters, but I do not own Power Rangers or anything related. I do, however, own Audrey Evans and Mallory and Alana Parker.

**Chapter 4: The Fall**

Evans Home, Angel Grove, CA

Audrey woke up the next morning and began getting her things ready for school. She walked over to the school, because her parents took both of the cars again. _They work at the same office, do they really need to take two cars to work?_ Of course they did, they left for work together, but they rarely ever got home at the same time. Why couldn't they cooperate to get home at the same time so that Audrey could have use of one of the cars. This was her own fault, of course. Her parents had told her they were going to buy her a car for her sixteenth birthday. She didn't want a car, she wanted time with them. They had given her money instead because they broke yet another promise.

As she walked on toward the school, she felt a nervous sensation in her gut. Would the students and teachers treat her differently here too because she was rich? She hated how the students thought she had things better. She didn't, as far as she was concerned, she had it worse.

She walked into the building and looked around. She got her schedule and locker assignment just in time to get to her first class. She took a seat near the front, waiting for the teacher to come in.

Orlando Public High School, Orlando, FL

Alana glared at Karissa all through fourth period. She couldn't believe Karissa was actually Coach Adams' idea of a replacement for Audrey. Since when did you put ones archrival up in their absense? Didn't Adams know that if the news got to Audrey, she wouldn't take it well? Though the girls never argued in practice, their glares were enough to tell you that friendship went sour years ago.

Yes, Audrey Evans and Karissa Reynolds had once been friends. Alana thought back to the day it all ended.

_Mallory, Alana, Karissa and Audrey walked into the gymnastics studio. "Audrey, why are you even here?" Karissa asked, goodnaturedly._

_Audrey laughed and rolled her eyes. This was an exchange between the two of them that had gone on for the past three years, since she was moved up to the champion class. "Oh Riss, you know I like to help out the kiddies."_

_Karissa's eyes glittered. She and Audrey were quite possibly the best in the studio, however, Karissa wasn't in champion simply due to other obligations. Audrey didn't let her obligations get in the way. She never admitted this to her best friend, but that comment always hurt, it had hurt for the past three years. "I honestly don't think you're any better than I am." She said huffily._

_Alana and Mallory glanced at one another. In the time this exchange happened, neither of them recalled that._

_Audrey, too, looked confused. "I-well-I didn't mean that." She said, not sure how to respond. Yes, she was a star gymnast, but she never compared her abilites to others seriously. Most of the students in the advanced class did have the ability to become champions, they just had too many obligations._

_"I want a contest." Karissa's eyes turned from glittering to glistening._

_"What?" Audrey asked, not sure where this was going._

_"I want a contest between you and me. Kim can judge it and we will see who is better."_

_"I don't want to compete with my best friend." Audrey said, still confused as to where this was coming from._

_"Are you scared?" Karissa asked her, triumphantly._

_That was it. Audrey wasn't scared to compete with anyone. "Fine." She said, her expression set. "But I won't go easy on you."_

_"Fine." Karissa said._

A couple of days later they had their contest. Audrey won. The two haven't said a nice word to one another since. This was hard on Mallory and Alana. They were friends with Karissa and Audrey. Soon, Karissa tested their loyalties and went against them just as brutally as she was against Audrey.

Karissa caught Alana's glare and gave her a smirk. "Hey there Alana."

Alana glared harder. _How dare she speak to me!_

Karissa continued smirking. "So how's Audrey doing? I'm sure you talk to her still."

"Don't talk about Audrey with me." She said, angrily.

"Girls!" Mrs. Miller called. "Get back to work and stop arguing please."

Alana nodded and began working on her assignment, still throwing the occasional glare at Karissa.

Angel Grove High, Angel Grove, CA

Last period of the day and Audrey walked into her science class, which, thankfully, she noticed Dr. Oliver wasn't the teacher of. "Maybe he really did take the year off." She said more to herself as she took a seat near the front. She pulled a notebook out of her bag and a picture fell from it. She bent down to pick it up and look at it. She saw a dark haired young man and a sixteen year old girl with long blonde hair. They had their arms around one another and were smiling happily. She turned to look at the back.

_Audrey,_

_I'm glad to have you in my life. You are my light and I couldn't be any happier with anyone else. _

_James_

A tear came to Audrey's eye. She hadn't seen this picture in six months, since she broke up with James. He had remained true to his words.He hadn't dated a single girl in six months. She hadn't dated either, but that was because of gymnastics. That was also the reason she broke up with him in the first place. She continued looking over the picture of her and James, it had been taken in October, two days before Halloween. She had been sixteen exactly two months when the picture was taken. They had been dating exactly two months. Four months later, they would break up. You couldn't tell by looking at them. Was it possible that Audrey hadn't gotten over James?

"It doesn't matter now." She said to herself. She was right. She was in Angel Grove and he was in Orlando. It really didn't matter if she was over him, they were too far apart to do anything.

She looked at the picture a little longer. The teacher walked in and set his things down.

Tommy walked into the classroom and glanced over the students. Audrey Evans was sitting in the front row. So much for avoiding her.

"My name is Dr. Oliver." He announced to the class.

_What?_ Audrey looked up, torn from her memories of her and James. Sure enough, Tommy was standing right in front of the class.

"Your real teacher had an accident and I will be substituting this class for a while."

Audrey sighed, she was now torn between two attractions, neither of which could happen. At least James was a little more realistic. She looked at the picture again and slowly placed it back into her notebook. She took notes as Dr. Oliver lectured. This class was going to be difficult, but she figured she could manage. She was more worried about dropping her A to a B than anything. As he finished the lecture and dismissed class, she walked out, in a rush to get to gymnastics class. Kimberly was starting it today and she was really excited.

Tommy sat down at his desk, watching Audrey rush out. He had to wonder if it was because of him or something else. She had avoided eye contact the whole period. He couldn't get around that. He began looking over lesson plans for the next day.

Kimberly's Studio

As Audrey walked into class, she walked over to Kim. "Hey, can I talk to you after class?" She asked.

Kimberly looked at her curiously. "Sure, I guess you can."

Audrey smiled. "Great." She ran off toward the dressing rooms.

Kimberly had managed to get four students for this class, Audrey met each of them in the dressing room. Amber Lockhart, Haley Smith and Renae James were the other three girls. "I'm Audrey Evans." She said to the other girls after they introduced themselves.

As they all walked into the studio for class, Kimberly assigned each of them one apparatus to start and said she would have them rotate to see what their abilites were and where they were strongest.

"I already know Miss Evans from my previous studio and her strength is the beam, so I'm going to start her there. Miss James, I would like you to start on the floor. Miss Lockhart on the uneven bars and Miss Smith on the vault.

Each girl took their place and began some routine to show off their abilites where they were assigned. Kimberly walked around the room letting them warm up first, then she walked over to the beam. The other girls watched from their positions as Audrey's routine came first.

Kimberly smiled in pride as she watched Audrey execute the routine perfectly all the way to the dismount. This was a routine Kimberly, herself, had taught Audrey a few years back and Audrey still performed it well. The other girls clapped after the dismount and Kimberly walked over to the floor. Now all eyes were on Renae as she performed her chosen floor routine.

After Kimberly watched Haley on the vault, they switched places and continued doing so until she had seen each girl on each apparatus. "Alright ladies. I will be looking over my notes and figure out your strengths. The way I teach is I focus on your strenghts but also try to strengthen your weaknesses. To become a Pan Global champion you need to excel on each apparatus."

As the other three girls left, Kimberly and Audrey walked into her office. "I will start off by telling you this isn't gymnastics related." Audrey said, taking a seat.

Kimberly watched Audrey, wondering what this was about. "Okay..." She said, waiting.

"I was just wondering how you knew a couple of people I have met recently." Audrey explained. "They said they knew you and I was wondering what you could tell me about them."

Kimberly's eyes widened in shock. People from her past? Who would it be? "I can't make any promises that I will tell you anything, but who are they?"

Audrey strategically decided to hold off on mentioning Tommy. "Well, the first one is Jason. I'm not sure of his last name right off."

"Jason Scott?" Kimberly asked, trying to figure out who she was talking about. "He was a really good friend of mine, probably my best friend besdies Trini." _So Jason still lives here, huh?_ Kimberly thought silently to herself. She debated on trying to find him.

"I guess so." Audrey said. Jason had said he and Kim were really good friends. "The other is Tommy Oliver."

Kimberly paled. That was the last name she wanted to hear as well as the last person she wanted to talk about. "I'd rather not talk about him right now." Kimberly said, shuffling through some papers.

Audrey was intrigued, she had to be right. Tommy and Kimberly had a history together. If Tommy wouldn't talk and Kimberly wouldn't talk, there was no way to get information about the couple. "Reminds me of James." She said softly. "I can't stop thinking about him, but he's the last person I want to think about."

Kimberly glanced at Audrey. She knew she dated a guy named James, he came to several practices and meets, but she didn't know Audrey was still hung up on the guy. "We dated for three years." She said, finally.

"Three years?" Audrey asked. "What happened?" It seemed to Audrey that a three year relationship had probably gotten pretty serious.

"Pan Global happened."

This confused Audrey, she knew Kim had moved to Florida years ago for Pan Global, but she didn't quite see the correlation between that and the breakup. If a relationship was serious enough to last three years, wouldn't they have stayed together through the competition and move back afterward?

Kimberly sighed. "I couldn't stand the fact that I was keeping him from moving on." She said, trying not to cry. "I was convinced that staying with him, across the country from one another was painful for him. It was for me, but I knew I had something to go back home to. I had a loving boyfriend. The thing was, I was convinced he needed to move on, he wasn't happy with me and I wanted to make him happy." She paused, trying hard not to cry.

Audrey saw that not only did Kimberly and Tommy have a history, Kimberly still loved him and missed him greatly.

"I wrote him a letter telling him I found someone new and that I was sure he was the one." Kimberly shook her head. "There was no one else."

Audrey nodded, understanding more than Kimberly knew. She, too, had broken up with someone purely for an obligation to gymnastics. The only thing was, James knew why she broke up with him. Tommy thought she had moved on. "You still love him, don't you?" Audrey asked, her voice soft. She didn't know if she should say this, but she had to hear it. She had to know.

Kimberly nodded. "I never stopped loving him. Pretty stupid, huh?"

Audrey shook her head. "No, it's not stupid." She was already planning things in her mind. She would reunite the two if it was the last thing she did.

Parker Sisters' Home, Orlando, FL

"Score!" Mallory said as she hung up the phone.

Alana glanced at her sister, annoyed. She knew Mallory had been on the phone with her parents, the parents she had no desire to talk to anymore. She went back to her homework, not caring what the conversation was about.

"We, dear sister, are moving." Mallory said, sitting on the couch next to Alana.

Alana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right." She said, working on a difficult math problem.

"I'm serious. Mom just gave me the okay. Now all we need to do is find an apartment."

Alana sighed and put her homework down. She looked at her sister's happy face. "Are you serious?" She said, intentionally avoiding getting excited.

"Yes!" She said. "Mom said we could move to California."

"Really?" Alana asked, a smile breaking onto her face.

Mallory nodded. "Still no word to Audrey though. I want this to be a surprise."

"Too bad we can't get there in two days." Alana said, sadly. She would have loved to have surprised Audrey on her birthday.

Mallory nodded in agreement. "As soon as we can though." She hugged her sister. "I'm really happy."

"Me too." Alana said, still smiling. "I need to finish my homework, but this definitely calls for celebration."

Mallory nodded. "Ben & Jerry's and movie night."

Alana grinned in approval, before returning to her homework.

Kimberly's Studio, Angel Grove, CA

Audrey returned to the studio that evening to practice her routine. She signed in, then walked over to the floor to do her warmups. After her warmups, she walked over to the beam and mounted it. She began walking across the beam, like she always did to start.

Once she completed her balance excersizes, she began the routine she was perfecting for Kimberly. She started off really well. She did the routine perfectly until-

She slipped, she frantically tried to catch herself and succeed. She dismounted the beam and signed out, running away from the studio. She got home and threw her bag on the floor and jumped onto her bed. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered her slip. Maybe, just maybe it wasn't that big of a deal to someone else. She didn't have a spotter. If she hadn't caught herself, she could have broken anything and ended her career... or her life.

Audrey looked back on the many people she had seen fall off the beam or the bars. Their careers were ruined. She hadn't seen anyone die, but she knew it could happen. Kimberly was usually very strict on using a spotter, but because of Audrey's hours and how careful she was, she tended to overlook it.

_"You know you should use a spotter, Audrey." Kimberly told her, time and again._

_The conversation usually went the same way. "I've not needed a spotter in years, and you know how my hours are, it's hard to get a spotter that late."_

_Kimberly nodded, she knew all too well, but she also knew even the best gymnasts needed a spotter. "I know, I know." She said to Audrey. "If I'm around, don't hesitate to ask me and try to have a spotter as much as possible... just in case."_

Just in case of what? This? Audrey sighed as she opened her photo album. All of her gymnastics photos were in there. Records of her victories and failures. This being her biggest failure and no record of it. No one would be able to see why she quit gymnastics for good.

A/N: I think that's a good place to leave this chapter and this will be the last chapter today, I think, give you some time to wonder. Smiles evilly


	5. Depression

A/N: August 28th, and a few more old characters are introduced.

Thank you to **PurpleRanger47 **and **riverkirby** for your reviews. Mell, the story is going to have many similarities to the rp, as you have probably noticed, however there are going to be many differences. I suspect the reason you ask is about Laci who will not be showing up in this story.

Disclaimer: Wee, I remembered two chapters in a row. Okay, so anyway. I don't own Power Rangers, I do own Audrey and Mallory and Alana though.

**Chapter 5: Depression**

Evans Home, Angel Grove, CA**  
**

Audrey woke up the next morning after a fitful sleep. She couldn't believe her gymnastics career was officially over. She just knew she couldn't go back though. She pulled her dolphin closer to her chest as she remembered her slip. Fresh tears streaming down her face. How was she going to do this? Before last night, gymnastics was all she could think about and now she was left with no dreams, no future.

This was one of those times Audrey was very thankful for her grades. She could get into college easily and maybe go to law school. It was a profession she had come to resent because of her parents, but it was better than nothing and right now, Audrey Evans, star gymnast, was looking at nothing.

She got out of her bed and began her routine stretches. Even without gymnastics, she couldn't function without her stretches. She slowly seperated her legs into the splits then reached for her feet with the opposite hands, one at a time. She remained in each position a while to make the stretch effective, then she went into her other stretches.

Once finished with her stretches, Audrey got dressed, choosing a pink top and white shorts. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, choosing a pink scrunchie. She always wore her hair in a ponytail when she was depressed. In Orlando her friends would have noticed and taken her shopping later. Her parents wouldn't notice and since no one here, save for Kim has ever seen her depressed, no one would notice. She intended to not see Kim.

She picked up her books and stuffed them into her bag, then began making her way downstairs. She set her bag on the couch and walked into the kitchen. _Wow, the Evans family is eating breakfast together._ She thought in shock as she viewed the image before her. Robert Evans was sitting, already dressed in his suit at the head of the table reading his newspaper. Alyssa Evans was cooking breakfast. "Hey mom, hey dad." She said as she took a seat at the table.

"Hey sweetheart." Her mother said, smiling at the newest addition to the room.

"How are you this morning, princess?" Her father asked her.

"I'm fine." She said simply. Her tone spoke volumes, not surprising, though, her parents didn't notice.

"That's good, sweetie." Her mother said as she finished putting their breakfast on plates and set one in front of her.

"Yeah." She muttered, picking at her food.

"So," Robert said, folding his newspaper up and setting it on the table, "your mother and I would like to take you to dinner tomorrow night."

"That sounds great, dad." She said, trying to muster as much enthusiasm as she could. She did like the idea of having a family dinner out for her birthday, but she also didn't expect it to happen.

Robert and Alyssa smiled at their daughter. She was one day away from seventeen years old and a very pretty young lady. They never really understood why she only dated once, or why they broke up. They never really asked Audrey either.

"What do you have planned today, honey?" Alyssa asked.

Audrey shrugged. "School, gymnastics and homework?" She said. "It's not like I have any friends to hang out with."

"You should get out and meet people." Robert suggested.

_If I wanted to, maybe._ Audrey thought sarcastically. "Yeah, I should, I just haven't had time.

"What about the girls in your gymnastics class?" Alyssa asked her.

Audrey shrugged, she was used to her other gymnastics classmates being jealous of her for taking up most of Kimberly's attention. These girls weren't there yet, but had she continued, they would have been. The truth was, she didn't want to see anyone having to do with gymnastics. It was too painful to think about. "They're really nice." Audrey said. "But as dedicated as we are to our art, I'm not sure if they have much time either."

Robert shook his head. "You're a teenager, you need to live."

Audrey shrugged. "I live well enough." She said simply. If her father was just noticing for the first time that Audrey had been cutting herself off from everything since she was ten to pursue gymnastics training, it was about seven years too late. However, Audrey seriously doubted he noticed a thing. She finished and excused herself from the table. "I'll see you tonight, I guess." She said as she picked up her bag and headed out of the house. No point in even asking to use a car, she began walking to school.

Youth Center

Trini Kwan walked into the youth center. She had just arrived in town earlier that day and was eager to see if she could find a familiar face or two. There was one of her old friends she always sort of had a little crush on, she definitely wouldn't mind seeing him again, though she was sure he had moved on. That was, of course, if he even ever shared the feelings she had.

She glanced around the room and took a seat at her old groups 'usual' table.

Someone placed their hands over her eyes. She screamed, not expecting it. They were masculine hands and she felt an electricity from the touch. She would know those hands anywhere, even years later. "Billy!" She said, jumping up and turning to face him.

Billy stood, now in front of her, completely shocked. "How did you...?" He asked.

"I just took a guess." She said, hugging him tight. "How have you been?" She asked, sitting back down.

Billy sat down next to her. "I've been good." He said. _I've missed you_. He thought to himself. It was something he thought often, but he could never say. He may have gained a little confidence in the past several years, but never enough to profess his feelings for his old friend.

Trini smiled, she found it odd how she had just been thinking about him and he showed up. She nodded. I've been pretty good, myself."

They exchanged stories of where they had been, both stealing meaningful glances, however, neither knowing the other's true feelings.

"So are you still Trini _Kwan_? Billy asked, emphasizing the last name.

Trini nodded. "Never found the right one, I guess."

"I know the feeling." Billy said. "I've never married."

_He's still single?_ Trini thought, satisfied. A silence surrounded the both of them.

After what seemed forever a voice behind them spoke. "Wow, you could cut the sexual tension with a knife."

"Jason Lee Scott!" Trini said, embarrassed. Billy chose to remain quiet, but they were both quite red.

Jason smiled, seeing his job was done. He pulled Trini into a hug, then placed a hand firmly on Billy's shoulder.

Jason took a seat at the table, catching up with the other two, both of which had just gotten into town pretty recently. Jason, having been around for a while, still hadn't actually seen anyone. "Sources tell me both Tommy and Kimberly are in town." He said. "I don't believe they have seen one another though."

Trini raised her eyebrows at the mention of Tommy and Kimberly together in the same statement. She had heard about the breakup. "Who are your sources?" Trini asked him.

"A teenager who just moved here, herself. I just met her the other day and somehow we got on the subject of the long seperated couple." Jason explained.

"That's an odd topic to get into with someone who just moved to town." Billy spoke up.

Trini nodded. "How did it come up?"

"Kimberly has been her gymnastics instructer for years. She met Tommy and I'm not sure how, but they got on the subject of Kimberly. She hasn't talked about any of us."

Trini's eyes widened. "Why not?"

Jason shrugged. "I have no clue. She asked me why Tommy was upset when she had said she hadn't heard of him. I told her to ask Kim. I don't know if she did or not though."

Billy shook his head. He didn't understand why Kimberly would neglect to mention her friends. "So is anyone else here?" Billy asked.

Jason shook his head. "Not that I've seen, but as I said, I hadn't seen Kim or Tommy either."

Billy counted off. "So that means we're missing Zack, Aisha, Adam, Rocky, Kat, Tanya and Justin."

Trini didn't know the last three. "Who are they?" Trini asked, referring to the ones she was unfamiliar with.

"Kat was Kim's replacement on the team." Billy explained. "And after the letter, she was also Kim's replacement in Tommy's life."

"Ouch." Trini said, her loyalty would always stay with Kim, no matter how uncharacteristic of Kim it was to leave Tommy for someone else. "Does Kim know?"

Jason nodded. "We came back to go scuba diving a few years later, and it was pretty obvious Tommy and Kat were an item.

"Tanya was Aisha's replacement." Billy continued. "When Aisha decided to stay in Africa after her Zeo quest, she sent Tanya back in her place. Justin was Rocky's replacement on the team after he hurt his back."

Trini shook her head, wondering how Billy could keep up with all that. She knew enough to know who the original team was and who replaced who when she Jason and Zack left, but beyond that, she was hopeless.

"Well, I heard Aisha and Adam got married." Jason said. "Justin's probably in college somewhere now."

Billy nodded. He had kept up with the other former blue ranger quite a bit. "Zack, Rocky, Kat and Tanya are the missing ones now."

"I haven't heard from any of them." Trini said.

"Neither have I." Jason added.

"Kat was here a few months ago."

"Ernie!" The three exclaimed.

"Where did she go?" Billy asked.

"Back to Australia, from what I hear. It was about the time Kimberly came back to town."

"Bitterness got the better of them?" Jason asked.

Ernie shrugged. "Just what I've noticed, I never saw them together, so I can't really say."

Billy went back to keeping count. "Zack, Rocky and Tanya."

Ernie shook his head. "I haven't heard from any of them. I'll keep an eye out though."

The friends nodded their appreciation. "Well, I should go unpack." Trini said, finally.

"I need to get back to the dojo." Jason said, standing up.

Billy wasn't quite ready to see Trini go.

"Billy, I wanted to ask you something, mind coming with me?" Jason asked, glancing toward Trini to let him know it couldn't be said around her.

"Sure." Billy nodded, wondering what Jason needed.

Parker Sister's Home, Orlando, FL

"Any luck on the apartment search?" Alana asked her sister as she walked into the house after school.

Mallory nodded. "I found one that we can move into in three weeks if we get it."

"If we get it?" Alana asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, it's down to us and another renter."

Alana sighed and fell back onto the couch. She wanted to get out to California so badly. She missed Audrey and hated Karissa more and more by the day.

Mallory watched her sister. "What's up?" She asked, walking over to the couch to join Alana.

"I just want to get away from here." Alana said, not wanting to mention the screaming match she and Karissa got into at practice.

"Because of Audrey?" Mallory asked.

Alana nodded. "And Karissa, who has got to be the worst captain ever."

Mallory raised her eyebrows. "Worse than "Danielle?"

Alana shrugged. "If not worse than her, just as bad as her. She's completely screwed up the team this year."

Mallory hugged her sister. "It doesn't matter, in a few weeks we'll be gone. I have a good feeling about this apartment."

Alana hugged back and smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Jason's Dojo, Angel Grove, CA

"Ask her out." Jason said, sitting in his office, looking over a few papers.

"Are you kidding me?" Billy asked as though Jason suggested him jumping off a cliff.

"No, man." Jason said. "I'm not."

Billy shook his head. He couldn't fathom the idea of asking Trini Kwan out.

"It's obvious you still have feelings for one another." Jason said. "I've never seen either of you blush that much."

Billy's cheeks turned a little pink again, remembering Jason's comment.

"It was also true. The attraction was thick back there."

"I just don't know if I could ask her out. I mean, we were such good friends."

"So ask her out alone as friends, catch up and see where it leads from there." Jason said. "Just do something. Don't let her slip away again."

Billy shrugged. Maybe he could ask her as friends, but what if he couldn't? He was still so shy around her. "I guess I could." He said finally.

"You want me to talk to her?"

Billy shook her head. "I'll ask her."

Jason smiled. "Good."

Angel Grove High, Angel Grove, CA

Dr. Oliver just finished his lecture as the bell rang. "Your homework is on the board and it's due tomorrow. Have a good day, everyone."

Audrey quit doodling and wrote down her assignment, then packed her things in her back, bolting out of the room. Tears running down her face. The bad thing about ponytails was that they were ineffective for hiding tears. She went to her locker and got her things. Where would she go? Gymnastics wasn't an option. She had to go home. Her parents wouldn't be home anyway. As she thought more about how much she missed gymnastics, she closed her locker and leaned her back against it. This wasn't going to be easy. She slowly slid down to the floor, fresh hot tears falling.

Tommy watched Audrey leave his class in a hurry. That was two days she avoided eye contact. Something seemed really wrong with her this time though. He shrugged it off. He would extend the offer to talk next time he saw her. He walked over to his desk and picked up a couple of papers, then walked out of his classroom. As he walked down the hall, he noticed a blonde girl sitting on the floor by the lockers, crying. _Audrey!_ He walked over to her and helped her up. "What's wrong, Audrey?"

She shook her head, wiping her tears. "It's nothing." She said softly.

Tommy looked at her, unconvinced. "It doesn't look like nothing. Would you like to talk?"

Audrey shrugged. "It's not like I have anything else to do."

They walked back to his classroom, together. "What's the problem?"

"I slipped on the beam last night while practicing. I don't think I could ever go back to it."

"Why not?" Tommy asked, not understanding why someone would give their dream up over a slip.

"Because champions don't fall." Audrey said firmly.

Tommy nodded, memories flooded him of another teenage girl, many years before who had fallen from the balance beam. This girls life was saved by the same girl who had sabotaged her. She was put in the hospital and she, too, had considered quitting. Tommy knew he couldn't tell Kimberly's story. If Audrey didn't know, it wasn't his place to tell. He did know she needed to talk to Kimberly about it though. "I can't make you keep at it, but I strongly encourage you to not give up on your dreams."

"My dreams are shattered."

This conversation was all too familiar. "Talk to Kimberly." He said firmly, his expression set.

A/N: Another chapter finished. I hope you guys like it. R/R please!


	6. The Birthday From Hell

A/N: Starts late August 28th and goes all the way through August 29th.

Reviews:

**riverkirby**: I don't think he knows for sure, but he might suspect. He probably assumes Audrey has contact with her regardless of where she is and that is also the reason for his attraction to Audrey. What he thought was an attraction to a young girl was actually an attraction to her connection with his love. He is going to be finding out soon though. Oh and questions are more than welcome. Don't be sorry.

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed in the last few hours, I still don't own Power Rangers, keep checking though.

**Chapter Six: The Birthday From Hell**

Evans Home, Angel Grove, CA

_Talk to Kimberly, talk to Kimberly._ Those words ran through her mind continuously after Audrey's talk with Tommy. That was all anyone ever told her here. _Talk to Kimberly._ "If I hear one more person say that, I'm going to scream!" She said out loud to her empty bedroom. "What if I don't want to talk to Kimberly?" She knew she would have to one day. She would have to tell Kimberly she was quitting. This was a conversation she dreaded though. She knew Kimberly wasn't going to be happy. Disappointed was probably the better word. She curled up in her bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

Early the Next Morning

Audrey woke up and looked at the alarm clock. 5:29. _Wee, one more minute until I'm seventeen._ She thought sarcastically. Her birthdays never meant anything. Well, back in Orlando they did. Back in Orlando, her group of friends would go shopping on birthdays. This made up about eight of their mall trips annually, though they went several other times as well. Prom dress shopping even before they were old enough to go to prom. Breakups were always greeted by seven girls eager to take the broken hearted girl out for a day of shopping. Audrey wouldn't get her birthday mall trip in this year. This was the first realization that hit her. The alarm went off. It was officially 5:30 AM. She rolled over and turned off her alarm clock. Waking up at 5:30 on August 29th was a tradition Audrey started when she first came across her birth certificate at the age of seven.

She slowly got to her feet and began her stretches. Once she finished her stretches, she walked over to her dresser. She picked out a pink skirt and a white top. Once dressed she picked up her pink scrunchie and put her hair back into a ponytail. Her cell phone rang. She walked over to her desk and picked it up. "Hello?" She asked.

"Happy birthday, Audrey!" Mallory and Alana both chorused.

She couldn't resist smiling. Her two best friends remembered her birthday even if she wasn't there. "Do you ladies have any idea what time it is?" She asked.

"Yep, six o'clock." Mallory said with a smile, glad she was able to do the math to get the time right.

Audrey nodded, still smiling, but sounding irritated. "Yes, six." She said. "Why would you call me at six?" She knew the answer, of course. She just liked messing with them. They knew her annual wake up tradition as well as she did.

"Because we knew you would be up at five-thirty." Alana said, matter-of-factly.

"And why aren't you in school, young lady?" Audrey said, teasingly. She and Alana were the same age and the same year in high school, but she still liked the fact that Alana was supposed to be in school now and she still had an hour and a half.

"Because I wanted to call you, but before school was too early." Alana said with a smirk that Audrey could hear in her voice.

Mallory laughed. "Yeah, our poor Alana has fallen very ill today."

Alana faked a realistic sounding cough.

Audrey forced a laugh and surprisingly enough, she didn't get questioned on it. "Well, you may be skipping school today, Alana, but I'm not. So I better get ready."

The three girls said their goodbyes and Audrey ended the call before tossing her phone in her backpack.

She walked downstairs and was greeted by the smell of breakfast on the stove. _Two days in a row? Could it be?_ She put her backpack down on the couch and walked into the kitchen. It was empty, but there was a note on the table.

_Audrey,_

_We wanted to be here this morning when you woke up, but we had to go into the office early again. We're really sorry, but we will be here to pick you up for dinner about six-thirty or seven. Breakfast is cooked and on the stove._

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

_P.S. Happy Birthday, sweetheart_

Audrey rolled her eyes. "We'll see about that." She said sarcastically as she walked over to the stove and began filling her plate. She didn't feel like eating, but she knew she had to.

After eating, she began the walk up to Angel Grove High School to begin another day of classes.

Youth Center

Billy walked into the youth center, hoping in vain to see Trini where she was yesterday. He hadn't thought to get an address or phone number from her. Of course, had he thought to, he was sure he wouldn't have had the guts to do so. _Why do you have to be so shy, Cranston? It's natural to ask a friend, especially a good friend for their phone number._ He walked over to the empty table and sat down, maybe she would show up.

Jason's Dojo

Trini had gotten a call from Jason early that morning to meet him here. She wasn't sure why though. She walked in and nodded to Jason.

"Hey Trin." He said, walking over and pulling her into a hug.

"Hey Jase." She said, hugging her friend back. "What did you need?"

He led her into his office and closed the door. He turned to face Trini. "He likes you a lot, you know."

Trini looked at Jason confused. "Who?"

Jason rolled his eyes and walked around to sit behind his desk. "Billy."

Trini laughed. There was no way Billy Cranston liked her. "As a friend, maybe."

"You two really are blind. The whole team used to talk about it. We used to have bets going on when you two would finally get the hint and hook up. I'm still good on mine for now, but you better get together soon."

"Are you serious?" Trini asked, sitting down.

"We talked about you yesterday, Trin. He's just too shy to ask you."

Trini bit her lip. All she had wanted the whole time she knew Billy was for him to ask her out, show a little interest even. "Really?"

"You know Billy's shy, would it surprise you if he was too shy to ask a friend out? You two have always been close and to the rest of us, it was obvious you liked one another. You knew you did. He knew he did. But you were both too shy to act on it."

Trini nodded. She would have never told Billy her feelings back then. Could she now? Even with this piece of information? "I'll admit I like him. I have for a long time."

"I know."

"I don't even know where to contact him."

"If all else fails, check the youth center."

Trini nodded, wondering if Billy and Jason had discussed this as well.

Outside of Angel Grove High

Tommy pulled back into the parking lot of the high school after taking his lunch break. He had about ten more minutes before his next class. He turned off the car and sat back looking at the school building. This building held many memories for him and sometimes it was hard to keep his cool. Sometimes he wondered why he left Reefside for Angel Grove and at other times he knew very well. He wanted to run into Kimberly but he wanted to avoid her all at the same time. His heart was broken, still, after all these years, but he loved her. He had so many questions he considered asking Audrey. Where she was. If she was married. How she was doing in general. Everytime he thought he would ask her, he stopped. He was scared of the answers.

He finally opened his car door and got out. Something caught his eye. The building that had been closed for years had people standing in front of it. They were putting a sign up. He couldn't read the sign now, but curiousity got the better of him. He stood by his car and watched the workers put the sign up. His eyes went wide when he finally saw the lettering.

_Kimberly Hart's Gymnastics Studio_.

Youth Center

Trini Kwan walked into the youth center. She smiled. Sure enough, Billy was there. She walked over to the same table they sat at the previous day. The same table the entire group once sat at. She snuck up behind him and covered his eyes with her hands.

"Trini!" He exclaimed and turned around to hug her. He felt the same electricity that he didn't know she felt the previous day.

She hugged him back and took the seat next to him. "Hey there." She said. "How did you know?"

"I would know those hands anywhere." He smiled.

She smiled back.

As Billy watched her, he thought he detected hints of a blush. _Could Jason be right?_

Trini thought she heard some meaning behind his words. _Could Jason be right?_

Little did they know, they were both thinking the same thing. "So, Trini." Billy said. "It's been a long time."

Trini laughed. "Since yesterday?" She asked.

Billy shook his head. "Before yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, it has." Trini said, nodding.

"You were probably my closest friend from the group and the one who understood me the most." Billy said, smiling.

Trini bit back a sarcastic comment about being his translator. She always wanted to be more than someone who understood his words, she wanted to be someone who understood him, the person behind the brain.

"Anyway, I think we should get together and catch up sometime." Billy said. "As friends." He added, to clarify that he wasn't trying to push a date on her. _Though I really wouldn't mind a date._

_Friends._ Trini thought sarcastically. _Yes, that's exactly what I want. To be friends._ "Sure, it sounds like a good idea." She said brightly.

"Great." Billy smiled. "And do you mind if I get your number? Chancing a meeting at the youth center worked today, but it might not always work."

Trini nodded and pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down a number. "My cell number, you should be able to reach me whereever I am."

He took the paper and smiled. "Great, thanks." He wrote down his own phone number and handed it to her.

Angel Grove High

Tommy couldn't get that image out of his mind. _Kimberly is here. _He thought. _In Angel Grove and she teaches just down the street from where I teach._ He wasn't sure how well he was going to handle this. Going back to Reefside sounded like a really good idea right about now. He walked distractedly into class. This was going to be an interesting day.

Audrey sat in her normal seat in the front row, in her hands, she held the picture of her and James. Without gymnastics she had nothing left here. She could easily talk her parents into letting her go back to Orlando. Would James still be interested? She had toyed with this thought over the past couple of days. All she had to tell her parents was that she had a huge crush on a teacher and it was affecting her schoolwork. Nevermind the fact that her crush was gone and replaced by feelings for her ex and nevermind the fact that nothing was interfering with her schoolwork. Her parents didn't need to know those little details though.

Tommy watched the girl for what seemed like ages. He had more questions than he had at lunch, but he couldn't ask them. He was still far too scared. She seemed upset anyway. Was it still gymnastics? He finally walked to the chalkboard and began writing something. This brought most of the students attention to him, but not all. Not Audrey's. She still gazed longingly at the photograph. _A year ago today._ She thought sadly. _We got together a year ago today._

"Miss Evans." Tommy said, bringing her back from her thoughts.

"Yes, sir?" She asked, feeling slightly embarassed.

"Before we get started, is there anything you would like to tell the class?" He asked. "You don't have to if you don't wish to, it's your choice."

She glanced at him curiously. She had heard teachers say that when people were caught passing notes or talking, but never looking at pictures. "Sorry, I was off in my memories." She said softly, putting her photograph back in her notebook.

"I mean about today."

_He knows? How does he know?_ "Oh..." Audrey said, biting her lip. "No, that's okay." She really didn't need the class singing happy birthday to her. It was far from a happy one.

He nodded and began his lesson.

The Parker Sisters' House, Orlando, FL

"I'm bored!" Alana whined at her sister.

Mallory laughed. "Your fault for skipping school."

"But school is over, can I at least go to the mall?"

"No, you're too sick to go to school so you're too sick to go to the mall."

"You sound like mom and dad." Alana pouted. "It's unbecoming."

Mallory laughed. "Sucks to be you."

Alana sighed. "Fine." She went to her bedroom and fell back on her bed. She stared at the ceiling for what seemed like hours.

Angel Grove High

"Audrey." Tommy said as he dismissed class. "Can I see you for a moment please."

Audrey sighed and finished packing up her things and walked over to the desk. "Yes, sir?"

Once the last student was gone, he spoke. "First off, I wanted to say happy birthday."

"Oh yeah, real happy." Audrey said sarcastically.

Tommy looked at her, concerned. "Second I wanted to know if there was anything you wanted to talk about."

Audrey shrugged. "You already know about gymnastics, and yes, I'm still quitting."

Tommy shrugged. "That's your decision. However, have you talked to Kimberly?"

"No."

He nodded. "And what about that thing you were staring at before I interrupted you. It looked like more than just random memories."

Audrey sighed and took a seat. "I still have feelings for an ex." She said softly. "The problem is, he's across the country." She didn't continue to say that she had thoughts of moving back just for him.

Tommy nodded. Sounded familiar. Very familiar. "What do you think you're going to do about it?"

Audrey shrugged. "What would you do?"

_Squirm and avoid her and hope one day we might be once again?_ Tommy thought to himself. "I don't know what I would do, but I hope you figure it out." He gave her an encouraging smile.

"Anyway, I better go, I have a phone call to make, then dinner with my parents." _If they show._

"Bye Audrey."

"Bye." She walked out the room and toward her locker. She had just stopped at her locker and was putting in the combination when someone bumped into her.

"Sorry." Came a masculine voice. "Are you okay?"

Audrey had fallen to the ground and she looked up to see a friendly and very attractive guy with his hand extended. She took his hand and let him help her up. "I'm fine, thanks." She couldn't stop looking at him.

"I'm Alex." He said to her. "I'm new here."

She laughed. "Me too, third day."

He nodded. "First for me." He noticed she had been crying. "Are you sure you're not hurt or anything?" He asked, but the tear streaks looked a little older.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you upset about something?"

"I'll be fine."

He nodded. "Okay, well if you change your mind." He wrote something down and handed the paper to her, walking off.

After he walked off, she read the paper. It had his name and phone number.

Rebuilt Moon Palace

Lord Zedd had recently been returned to his evil state and rebuilt his palace. He was trying to get new followers and find some of his old ones. He had a few minions he had come across along the way, but he wanted a powerful army. One that would defeat the Power Rangers once and for all.

"I want her." Zedd said.

"Who?" One of his minions asked.

"The girl talking to the Triforian."

The minion nodded, showing he saw which girl he was talking about. "Why do you want her?"

He gave a cruel smile to the minion. "That's for me to know now and you to know later."

The minion nodded once again and walked away.

Evans Home

Audrey glanced at the clock. Seven-thirty and still no parents, still no call. She sighed as she turned back over. She should have known. She did know, but she had hoped at least one good thing would happen to her today.

Nine o'clock and she finally heard cars pull up. She went down to the living room and sat on the couch. Alyssa Evans walked in first, followed by Robert. "Hello sweetheart." Alyssa said, walking over to her daughter and giving her a hug. "Happy birthday."

Audrey nodded. "Thanks." She said, hugging her mom back, waiting for the excuse.

Robert walked over and hugged Audrey next. "Happy birthday, princess."

Audrey hugged him back as well, repeating her thanks.

"We're really sorry for not being here to take you to dinner." Alyssa said.

"It's fine." Audrey said shrugging. _You got held up at the office._

"We got held up at the office." Robert said, handing her a card. "I hope this helps."

_I knew it, same excuse and money. _She forced a smile. "Thanks, mom. Thanks, dad. She walked outside and sat on the porch swing, crying.

Alex was walking down the street when he heard a girl crying. He walked up to the stranger's porch. "Are you alright?" He asked the girl.

Audrey lifted her head and Alex saw it was the girl he had seen earlier. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

He looked at her with concern. "You said that earlier. I didn't believe you then and I won't believe you now."

She shrugged. He sat next to her. "Talk to me."

Audrey explained the whole gymnastics problem and then the issue with the gift card. Alex nodded understandingly as he listenened.

Audrey choked back more tears as she finished and he gave her a hug.

Jason walked up to the house to see how Audrey was doing. He saw the two and tried to walk away. "Hey Jason." She said, wiping away a couple of tears.

"I'll see you at school, tomorrow." Alex smiled and walked off.

Audrey nodded. "Seeya."

Jason walked up onto the porch and sat down. "You don't look too well."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

"I mean, you look upset."

She nodded. "I knew what you meant."

"Want to talk?"

She shrugged and explained the stories again.

"I don't think your parents mean to do that."

Audrey shrugged. "It doesn't matter if they mean to or not, they still do it."

Jason nodded. "I know. Have you talked to Kimberly about quitting?"

Audrey sighed. "No."

"You should."

She shrugged.

Audrey's Bedroom

After talking to Jason, Audrey left a letter on her desk and climbed out her window into the cool night. No one would notice she was gone at lesat until 8, most likely later, so she had a while to get somewhere before her parents put on some elaborate facade and sent out a search party.

_Mom and Dad,_

_I know you meant well, but I'm not the daughter for you. I want parents who can be there and care when I slip off the balance beam, help me through a crush, care that I hate that you moved me away from everything I've ever known. Parents who keep promises and don't give me some elaborate amount of money everytime they disappoint me. I want parents who don't disappoint me on a daily basis. I may never find these parents, I may be on the own for the rest of my life, all I know is I can't be here. I honestly do love you guys, and I will miss you._

_Please tell the following people I love them and I'm sorry: Kim, Jason, Tommy_

_Love always,_

_Audrey Julianne Evans_

She walked off, not really knowing where she was going, not really caring. Just getting away. She hoped to eventually get to Orlando, but she wasn't sure when that would be. While she was walking, a red guy appeared in front of her.

"Hello, Audrey." The red guy said to her.

"Um hi? Who are you and how do you know my name?"

"I am Lord Zedd, Emporer of Evil." He told her.

This was just too freaky. "And what do you want?"

"You to join me."

"Right." Audrey said sarcastically. "What exactly do you want with a seventeen year old girl?"

"If you join me, you will be happy and all of those who have hurt you will suffer."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She said simply. "Why me?"

"Because you're special, Audrey." He told her.

"Special? How?"

"Ask your friends. I'll come back to you another time." He disappeared.

Friends? What friends? Mallory and Alana? Or Kim, Tommy and Jason? She was so confused by this, she went back home and threw the letter away. She decided she would talk to the three people she met who seem to be good friends with one another. Would they know about this Lord Zedd guy?

A/N: Wee, finally finished with another chapter. Let me know what you think. Lots of reviews please!


	7. Memories

A/N: Nothing really happens in this chapter, but read and REVIEW anyway please.

Reviews: No new reviews to answer.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers

**Chapter Seven: Memories**

August 25, 2005

_"Audrey?"_

_"Yes, James?"_

_"I really like spending time with you." He said in a meaningful tone._

_"I do too." She said, her tone equally as meaningful._

_He leaned in slowly and kissed her. Their first kiss._

August 29, 2005

_Audrey and James walked out to the back of her house. "Sorry." James said. "I had to get away from the crowd for a little bit."_

_Audrey nodded. "I know the feeling." She smiled._

_James looked at her. "They're here for you, you know."_

_"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."_

_James laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."_

_"I'm not exactly the social butterfly I once was."_

_He nodded, he knew. Gymnastics had consumed her and that was all she ever did anymore. "Audrey?"_

_"Yeah?" She turned to look at him._

_"I really like you." He said. "A lot."_

_She liked him too, but she had never had the nerve to admit it. Could she now? "I do too." She said softly._

_"Would you be my girlfriend?" He asked her nervously._

_Audrey stood there in shock for a little bit. She knew he liked her and they had shared that kiss a few days ago, but he had never actually hinted he wanted her to be his girlfriend before. After a moment of silence, she nodded._

_He kissed her again._

_They walked back to the house, hand in hand. No one really noticed a difference when the two of them walked into the house, but they both felt as though they were flying._

October 28, 2005

_James ran up to Audrey's house, he could tell she was leaving, so he had to get there quick. "Audrey!" He called as he got closer to her porch._

_She turned and smiled. "Hey James."_

_He smiled nervously. Even though they had been together almost two months, he was still extremely shy around her. "Are you doing anything tomorrow night?"_

_She shook her head._

_"Would you come to my parents cabin with me for dinner?"_

_She looked at him. His parents cabin wasn't often inhabited and the nearby cabins weren't either. It was a completely secluded area. It was James though. "Sure." She flashed him her smile._

_He smiled._

_"I have to go though. I'll see you tomorrow?"_

_"Definitely." He kissed her and they walked their seperate ways._

October 29, 2005

_The couple arrived at the cabin and James unlocked the door. They walked in. "Jenna, what are you doing here?" James asked, he had been counting on having a romantic evening alone with his girlfriend._

_"I wanted to take a couple anniversary pictures of the two of you. I'll be off after that." Jenna said to her brother._

_"Fine." James said as Jenna led the couple back out to the porch._

_They posed in a couple of cutesy poses, then Jenna left. The couple went back inside._

_Audrey insisted on cooking for him, but he wanted to cook. He won. She went and sat on the couch in the same spot Jenna had been sitting in. She hadn't been allowed to bring homework so she just sat back on the couch._

_When James finished dinner he set it up on the plates and set them on the table. "Dinner's ready." He called out to Audrey._

_She stood up and walked into the dining area. Whatever it was smelled wonderful._

_She smiled. The whole setting was extremely romantic._

_After they finished eating, they both sat on the couch and cuddled for a little while._

_"So we've made it two months." He said with a smile._

_"Yeah, we have." He kissed her lips softly._

December 18, 2005

_After her competition, Audrey ran over to James and hugged him tight._

_"Congratulations, Angel." He said as he hugged her back._

_She smiled brightly. "Thank you." She had won a gold medal at the competition. It was the biggest competition of the season and this excited her quite a bit._

_"This calls for a shopping trip." James smirked. He knew she would love to go shopping to celebrate._

_"I'm not letting you buy me anything." She said, staring him down._

_He raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine." He said. "Can I still take you?"_

_"Of course." She smiled. "Leave your wallet at home though."_

_"So I'm not allowed to buy anything for myself either?"_

_She thought about that for a moment. "Nope." She smiled._

_"You aren't either."_

_"Who says?"_

_"I do."_

_"You know, it's entirely unfair how cute you are?"_

_She smiled._

December 25, 2005

_Audrey answered the door. She didn't know who else would show. Her grandparents were there, all of her aunts and uncles and cousins. "James!"_

_He wrapped her in a tight hug. "Merry Christmas, Angel." He said with a smile._

_Alyssa Evans saw who was at the door. "James! Hello. Come on in."_

_Audrey smiled and pulled James into the house. Her entire family knew James, so there was no need for introductions._

_James handed Audrey a present and she opened it immediately. It was a charm bracelet. The charms on it were a gymnast on a beam, a gymnast doing a handspring, a gymnast on the vault and a gymnast on the uneven bars. "Thank you, James!" She smiled and hugged him. His present was under the tree and he would have to wait for the rest of them to be handed out._

December 31, 2005

_"Ten more minutes until midnight!" Alyssa called._

_Both couples, Alyssa and Robert Evans and Audrey Evans and James Miller gathered in the living room to watch the count down._

_"You two are aware I might have to kiss your daughter in front of you, aren't you?" James said, jokingly._

_The Evans had assumed James and Audrey had kissed, probably even before her birthday when they got together. They didn't really care. "We trust you, James." Alyssa said with a smile._

_"Yeah, if you do anything to hurt our daughter, we know where your entire family is." Robert said with a smile, tightening his arm around his wife._

_The ball dropped and James kissed Audrey lightly._

_"No pain." Audrey said with a teasing smile._

_"Good. I could never hurt you." James smiled back._

January 13, 2006

_"Mal, I don't think I can stay with him much longer." Audrey said, crying into the phone._

_"What? Why not?" Mallory asked her best friend._

_"I don't have time for him anymore. I never really did, but I can tell it's hurting him now."_

_Mallory sighed. She knew why Audrey didn't date, she decided to give it a try and this happens. "I'm coming over."_

_Audrey shrugged. "If you must._

February 3, 2006

_Audrey bit her lip as she waited on James. She was extremely nervous about this. She was sure it would kill her._

_"Hello Angel." James said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind._

_She turned and gave him a serious look._

_He faltered and stepped back. Something told him he wasn't going to like this._

_"James..." She said softly, looking to the ground._

_He nodded. He knew what was coming and he tried not to cry._

_"I just don't have time anymore." Audrey said, a single tear falling from her eyes. "You deserve to have someone who has time for you."_

_"I want you, Audrey." James said, taking her hands in his._

_She shook her head. "It can't work. Not now. Maybe one day, but not now."_

_James gave her one last kiss and walked away before the tears started falling._

Evans Home, Angel Grove, CA, August 30, 2006

Audrey woke up slowly. Her dreams the entire night had consisted of memories of her relationship with James. Her eyes glistened with tears. She remembered the pained expression on James' face the day she broke up with him. They had quickly gone back to being friends, but there were still times he gave her those gazes. The ones that told her he loved her. She choked back tears and sat up slowly.

A/N: This chapter was just sort of filler. It explains the James/Audrey relationship a little more and is another symbol of how much she misses him right now. Lots of reviews please. I'm sad that the last chapter didn't get any.


	8. Talk to Kimberly

A/N: August 30th for those keeping track.

Reviews:

**riverkirby**: Thanks, I hoped it was a good touch, I wanted to get some more James/Audrey stuff in because certain events will be occuring soon.

**GinaStar**: Glad you are enjoying it.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers

**Chapter Eight: Talk to Kimberly**

Evans Home, Angel Grove, CA

Audrey wiped her tears away as began her routine stretches. Once finishing, she walked over to her dresser. Oddly enough, she was having trouble deciding what to wear for the first time in six months. Since her breakup with James, there was no guy to impress enough to really care what she wore. She finally decided on a pink shirt and short jean skirt. She carefully placed her hair into a ponytail and put her books in her bag. She headed downstairs and noticed her parents were already gone. No breakfast today. She grabbed an apple and walked out of the house.

She got to school and walked into her first class. As her teacher began explaining the lesson her thoughts went back to the night before. This Zedd guy had told her to talk to her friends, but she still wasn't for sure what friends or what she was supposed to ask them. She decided to assume Tommy, Kimberly and Jason. She decided she would talk to Tommy after class today and let him know she needed to meet with the three of them. Then she would have to find Jason and force herself to go into Kimberly's studio again. That was going to be hard.

"Audrey?" The teacher asked her.

She came back from her thoughts. "Yes, Mrs. Price?"

"Do you know the answer?"

Audrey blushed slightly, she knew she probably would if she knew the question. "Sorry, what was the question again?"

A few of the kids laughed. "I think Audrey has her mind on a guy." April Walker said with a teasing tone.

Though that wasn't too far from the truth, since a certain someone kept evading her thoughts, it was more on a couple of tasks. Talking to her friends about this Zedd guy for one and her mission to get Tommy and Kimberly back together. Since she had to make them be in the same room for her questioning, it shouldn't be too hard to get her to get them back together, provided Tommy was still as in love with Kimberly as she was him. "Actually, it's not." Audrey said a little more curtly than intended. "The question please?" She asked the teacher.

The teacher repeated the question and Audrey gave her answer.

Trini's House

Trini walked into her house just as her phone rang. She set her things down and walked over to the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Trini."

Trini smiled. "Hey Billy, what's up?"

Billy shook his head. "Nothing, I just wanted to see if you were busy tonight."

"Nope, not that I'm aware of." Trini said after thinking out her plans a little.

Billy smiled. "Great. Meet me tonight?"

"Where?" Trini said, liking the idea of seeing him tonight.

Billy told her where to meet him and they got off the phone. Trini sat down on her couch with a smile. She couldn't wait to see Billy again.

Airport, Los Angeles, CA

Aisha Park rolled her eyes at her husband. "Adam, come on." She said, she was excited about getting back into Angel Grove today and couldn't wait to see who she would come across.

Adam smiled. "Yes, dear." He said, joining her with his arm around her waist. They went to baggage claim then headed out to find a cab. "Where exactly are we staying when we get there?"

Aisha shrugged. She figured they would make hotel plans once they got to town. For the time being she just wanted to get there. They caught a cab and began the journey to Angel Grove, California.

Moon Palace

Zedd kept his eyes on Audrey Evans. The girl still had no clue why Zedd wanted her. He found this interesting. _How can she not know?_ He thought to himself. He could use this in his favour though. He could use this to get to her before the rangers did.

"What are you looking at?" His minion asked him.

"The girl." Zedd said simply. He didn't need to answer to his own followers.

The minion nodded, it was still unclear to him why this girl was wanted. She seemed to nice to be evil. "Why do you want her?"

"What did I tell you last time you asked that?" Zedd asked, turning to face his minion.

He nodded. "Yes, sir." He ran off.

Parker Home, Orlando, CA

"It gets worse and worse every day." Alana said, pouting.

"What now?" Mallory asked.

"Karissa has done it again." Alana fell onto the couch.

"What has she done now?"

"Royally screwed OHS over this year."

Mallory gave her sister a questioning look. How could one senior screw the whole school over, nevermind she was the bitchiest senior there.

"The gymnastics team, I mean."

Mallory nodded, that was making a little more sense. "Is Adams reconsidering?"

Alana shook her head. "Not yet, I hope soon, though. Audrey is bound to find out what a mess Karissa has made of it."

Mallory shrugged. She wasn't sure if Audrey cared about OHS anymore. "Maybe Adams will interfere like she did sophomore year."

Alana nodded. She recalled Danielle, the captain from her freshman year. She had assigned her friends to the beam and bars, leaving the younger students to the floor and vault, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses. "It's pretty much Danielle over again. The only smart thing Karissa did is give herself beam."

"Not that it matters, since you're gone before competition hits," Mallory started, "but where are you?"

"Floor." Alana said simply. Her strength was bars. Everyone knew that.

Mallory sighed. "Well, good thing you won't be around much longer, huh?"

Alana nodded. It still sucked that all of her practices from now until she left would consist of floor routines.

"Floor isn't that bad." Mallory smirked.

"For you, maybe."

Angel Grove High

Audrey sat through Dr. Oliver's lecture actually paying attention. She sent a couple of glances in Alex's direction, but he didn't glance back. Not that she knew of, anyway. She guessed the royal brush off the day before had affected him.

"Okay guys, class is almost over. Homework is on the board and it's due tomorrow." The bell rang. "Class dismissed."

Since this was the last class of the day, most students rushed out of there. Audrey, however, hung behind. Before Haley got out the door, Audrey called her over. "Haley!"

Haley turned to see Audrey. "Hey Audrey, how are you feeling?"

She shrugged. "Still not too well, can you let Kim know I'm still sick and won't be in class today either?"

Haley looked at Audrey in concern, but nodded. "I hope you come back soon."

Audrey nodded. "I'm working on it." She lied.

With that, Haley walked out the door and headed toward the doors.

Audrey walked over to Tommy's desk. "Dr. Oliver, can I ask you something?"

Tommy looked up and smiled. "What is it?" He asked her.

"It's not class related." Audrey said, not really sure how she was going to ask him to meet hre at Kimberly's studio later.

Tommy nodded. "Okay..."

Audrey took a breath. "I need to talk to you and a couple of other people soon. Can you meet me at Kimberly's studio tonight?"

Tommy just stared at her. "Um... I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

Audrey sighed. She needed answers and she was sure Tommy, Jason and Kimberly were her sources of help. "It's really important."

"Well, if it's so important, why can't you ask me now?"

_Because I'm not even sure of what to ask._ She thought to herself. "He specified friends as plural."

"Who is he?" Tommy asked, giving her a confused look.

"I can't talk about that now." Audrey said, then she decided to make Tommy take some of his own advice. "Talk to Kimberly." She said, simply. "Today." She turned to walk out the door. "I'll meet with you three tomorrow instead."

Tommy sighed. He had no choice. He was going to have to talk to Kimberly.

Kimberly's Studio

Tommy sighed as he stood outside of the studio. Was this really a good idea? He took a deep breath and walked in. "Kimberly?"

Kimberly looked up at the sound of her name. "Yes?" She turned around, then froze with a shocked look on her face. "Tommy?"

Tommy stood there shocked, yet happy to see the only woman he had ever loved back again. He smiled really big. "It's great to see you Kim, I've missed you so much.

Kimberly smiled back. She was glad to see that he didn't hate her. It was refreshing to see that smile again. "Wow, it's been so long." She looked down. "I've missed you too. A lot."

Tommy walked over to Kimberly and used his hand to lift her chin up and look into her eyes getting lost in her beautiful eyes. "Hey now Beautiful. No looking down, because then I can't see your face, and I missed you a lot too Kim.

Kimberly looked back into Tommy's eyes, speechless. Coming back, then running into Tommy was so much more than she could have hoped for. As he said her old nickname, she practically melted right there.

Tommy just smiled, looking into Kimberly's eyes. He remembered all the good times they had together and how much he missed her when she left. "I don't know if you are busy or anything, but I am gonna go to the youth center, and I was wondering if you wanna go to hang out me."

She too felt the memories flooding back. She felt horrible for breaking up with him, especially the way she did it. "Sure." Kimberly said with a smile. "I'd love to hang out with you."

He smiled and looked at her as they walked over to the youth center, and then he walked over to the counter and ordered them a couple of juices and then sits with her at the table looking into her eyes again feeling his love for her, stronger then ever. "So what have you been up to after all these years?"

"What have I been up to?" She thought for a moment. "Well, since my last visit to Angel Grove..." She began, stopping as she winced at the memories that happened during her last visit to Angel Grove. "Wow, I'm really not sure what to tell you. I ran a gymnastics studio for a while, but I was asked to come back so I gave the studio up to one of my assistants."

"I see..." He said. "I am really happy to see you back Kim, I hope you never leave again. I really missed you when you were gone. It was like half of my heart was missing."

Kimberly smiled faintly. "I have no plans to leave again." She looked at Tommy and sighed. "I'm sorry, Tommy. I'm sorry for leaving, I'm sorry for writing that letter, and just in general, I'm sorry things didn't work out between us." She wanted to finish her thought, but wasn't know how he would react.

Tommy looks over at kim as she spoke, then he smiled a little. "Kimberly its ok, that was the past. You're here now and that is all that matters to me. You're the most important person in my life. I rather have you as a friend then not have you at all in my life."

"Friend..." The hurt was evident in her voice, but she covered. "Yeah, you've always been a great friend."

"Well I say friend, because I don't know how you feel about me now, Kim, and I don't wanna jump to any conclusions, or get hurt by thinking one thing and its not what you were thinking."

Kimberly closed her eyes. "Do you want to know how I feel, Tommy?"

"Yeah, if you wanna tell me how you feel."

"I never stopped loving you."

"I never stopped loving you either, Kimberly."

"I really want to be with you forever."

Kimberly stood there speechless, unable to make a full sentence. "Really?"

"I saw myself spending the rest of my life with you, Kimberly. I always loved you and always will love you."

Kimberly nodded slowly. "One of the things I had hoped for in coming back was a chance to work things out with you, to tell you the real reason for writing that letter." She bit her lip. "Then maybe have another chance."

"Really? You want to work things out between us?"

She nodded. "I do."

"That would be nice, Kimberly, but I have to tell you. I am really busy latel. I am a school teacher now."

Kimberly shrugged. "I dont care, Tommy. I don't expect things to be like they were in high school. That time has long gone. I don't even expect us to pick up where we left off. I just know that after all this time, my feelings haven't changed. I feel like I belong with you."

"You're willing to take the chance that I might not have time to always be there for you and still want to be with me? I always felt we were meant to be."

"There's no one I would rather be with."

Tommy stood up, walked over to her and hugged her tight, missing how lovely she smelled and how wonderful she was to hold. Tommy had missed holding her and being close to her, he was happy she is back for good now.

She hugged Tommy back, remembering how wonderful she felt in his arms, looked up at him. "Does this mean...?" She trailed off.

"This means that we will try and see where things go for us and try to get back to how we were in high school and maybe be back together."

She nodded. "I can accept that."

Tommy smiled and looks at her knowing that he still loved her and always would love her. He also knew that he just needed to see how much effort Kimberly would put into the chance to be with him again.

Kimberly looked back at Tommy with her own smile. She was determined to end up with him, but she would give him whatever time he needed. "I need to explain that letter." She said finally.

Tommy sighed. He hadn't really wanted to know who the other guy was. _Please just tell me I don't know him._ He nodded, still holding her tightly. If she felt the need to explain, he would allow that.

Kimberly looked down. "There was never anyone else."

He looked at her, confused. "Why did you write it then?"

"I wanted you to be happy, Tommy."

"So you broke up with me?" Tommy asked, not understanding how that was supposed to make him happy.

Kimberly nodded. "We were young and I was all the way across the country from you. I thought it would be better for you if I let you go." Tears glistened in her eyes as she spoke. She hated talking about the letter and especially the real reason she wrote it. It hurt her too much.

"Kimberly, I was happy when I was with you."

"I was too, Tommy. That was when I was the happiest."

Angel Grove High School (Meanwhile)

Audrey began getting her things from her locker really hoping Tommy was taking her advice. Whatever this was, she was sure she needed all three of them for it.

"Hey Audrey."

Audrey turned at the sound of her name. She smiled a little. "Hey Alex."

"Are you feeling any better?"

She nodded. "A little."

"Well if you need any help, let me know." He smiled at her. "You still have my number somewhere?"

She nodded. "Thanks, Alex. I'm not sure there's anything you can do to help though."

"You said you didn't have a spotter, right?"

She nodded again. "But I'm not going back."

"If you change your mind, let me know."

She shrugged. "I guess."

Evans Home

Audrey sat on her porch debating a return to gymnastics. She really did miss it. The depression was killing her. The problem was, the fear consumed her. She honestly wasn't sure if she could ever go back. She finally picked up her phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?" Came the voice at the other end.

"Alex? It's Audrey."

Alex smiled. "Hey Audrey. What's up?"

"I was wondering if that offer was still open."

"To spot you?"

"Yeah."

"Sure. Where do I meet you?"

She gave him the directions and headed toward the gymnastics studio.

Kimberly's Studio

Audrey arrived before Alex and she walked over to the floor mats to stretch before he got there. She was wearing a pink leotard with white diagonal stripes. Her ponytail exchanged for a bun to keep her hair out of the way.

Alex walked in and saw Audrey stretching on the floor. When Audrey saw him, she stood up and walked silently over to the beam. She looked at it. It looked a lot higher than four feet off the ground. She took a deep breath before mounting it. She began walking across, her steps were shaky and she felt as though she was going to fall. Once she got to the other end, she turned and walked back across, a little more confident the second time.

Alex watched her closely. He was prepared to catch her if she fell and the first time across, it looked many times as though she would. _She's just scared._ He thought, wishing he could do something to make her feel more confident.

As she reached the end, she began the routine that she had been working on the night she slipped. She glanced down at Alex periodically to make sure he was still there and paying attention. She continued through the routine, pausing before her fateful jump. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Alex noted her hesitation. He wondered if this was where she had the problem the night she slipped. "You can do it." He whispered.

She heard his words and continued. She did the jump and landed safely on the beam. From there, the routine was nothing to complete. Once finishing the routine, she dismounted perfectly. Alex ran over and gave Audrey a hug.

Audrey hugged him back. "Thank you."

He smiled. "You did great."

She heard clapping from the back and saw Jason. He walked over to them. "I knew you could do it."

She smiled. "Thanks. How did you know I was here?"

"I followed you."

"That's a little creepy." She teased.

"I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

_Safe from what?_ She thought to herself. Did Jason know? "Speaking of which, I need to talk to you, Kim and Tommy tomorrow."

Jason looked shocked. "Kim and Tommy in the same room together? This could be interesting."

Audrey nodded. "I warned Tommy about it and told him he needed to talk to Kimberly today. I just hope he listened. This is important."

"What is it?" He asked.

"Not now. Meet me here after my gymnastics class tomorrow."

Jason nodded. "Okay."

"I should get home. Thanks again, Alex."

"No problem." Alex said with a smile and she walked out.

"Jason Scott." Jason said, extending his hand to the remaining person in the room.

"Alex Goldstone." Alex returned. The name struck something in his memory though. "Wait..."

Jason looked at him. "Yes?"

"Do you know someone named Trey?"

Jason nodded, but he had to be careful, just in case Alex wasn't referring to the same one. " i Gold /i stone, huh?" He asked, hoping that Alex would get the hint if he really knew the same Trey.

"Yeah, I'm his son." Alex said. "My father once passed something to you?"

Jason nodded. "So you're the new one, huh?"

On the Way Home (Meantime)

Audrey smiled as she walked home. She was happy to have her passion back. She also thought Alex was really cute. _I wonder if I could ever stand a chance with him._

"Hello again, Audrey."

Audrey turned, there before her, she saw Lord Zedd. "What do you want now?"

"I want you to join me." Zedd replied with a smile. "Ready yet?"

Audrey shook her head. "What is it you want with me anyway? I'm just a teenager."

"You're a special teenager, Audrey."

"What do you mean?"

"Look inside of you, then talk to Kimberly and her friends. She has the answers." He disappeared again.

Audrey sighed, frustrated. Well, at least she knew she was on the right track with Kim, Tommy and Jason. She still didn't know what questions to ask them though.

A/N: Another chapter down. Lots of reviews please!


	9. Gathering

A/N: August 31 for those keeping track

Reviews:

**Lavonne Adams** and **riverkirby**: One of you is right. The question is, which one?

Dicslaimer: I still don't own power rangers

**Chapter Nine: Gathering**

A Cab Entering Angel Grove

Rocky DeSantos sat in the back of the cab, giving directions to Adam and Aisha's home. When he told Adam he wanted to come back, the couple was more than willing to open their home to him a couple of days. He was glad for this, he didn't know why but he felt he needed to be here and soon. _I hope I'm not becoming a power ranger again._ He thought to himself. He enjoyed his time as a power ranger, but now he was just too old.

The cab pulled up outside the Park home. Rocky paid the driver and walked up to knock on the door. Aisha opened the door. "Rocky!" She hugged her life long friend. She ushered him into the house and even picked up a couple of his bags to carry in.

Adam looked up from the table when Rocky walked in. He smiled, "Hey Rocko." He called. Rocky walked over and gave Adam a pat on the back.

"Have you seen anyone else worth mentioning since coming to town?" Rocky asked.

Aisha shook her head. "We've only been here a couple of days and have been busy trying to get settled in."

Rocky nodded. "I'll have to go search later."

"We'll go with you, Aisha and I need a break anyway." Adam said, he had yet to see any of his old friends.

Aisha nodded. "I wonder if Kim is back." She said, they had all expected her to come back after Pan Globals, but then she found some other guy and left Tommy, she didn't come back, to Aisha's knowledge, anyway, until the rest of the existing rangers retired.

"I haven't heard anything about Kim." Adam said. "Last I heard Tommy was in Reefside."

"That's not too far." Rocky said. "Maybe we should pay him a visit."

"I think we should look through the phone book and find everyone who is here." Aisha decided.

"They might even have information on people we can't find." Adam replied.

Aisha walked over and picked up the phone book. "We need a system to make sure we don't forget anyone."

Adam nodded. "Original rangers first."

Aisha began looking though the S's She found Jason Scott. "Here's Jason."

Adam smiled. "I wouldn't be surprised if Jason has information on everyone."

Aisha looked through the H's next, she just had to know if Kim was here. "I found her!"

Both guys looked at her wondering who 'her' was. "Trini or Kim?" Adam asked.

"Kim." Aisha responded. She decided to look up K's next. "I don't see Trini." She said.

"Maybe she's a Cranston now." Adam said jokingly. Though the three only knew Trini a short time before she left Angel Grove, it was obvious Trini and Billy had something for one another.

"C..." Aisha mumbled and began looking through the C's. "I don't know, but I did find Billy."

She flipped to the T's to look for Zack, but again she came up short. "Okay I'm going to look for Tommy then we will be done with the originals." Aisha said. She flipped to the O's and nothing. "Okay so we need to ask Jason, Kim and Billy what they know about Trini, Zack and Tommy."

"Okay, ninjetti." Adam said.

"Me, you two, Kim, Tommy and Kat." Rocky listed off.

Aisha flipped back to the H's and found nothing once more. "We'll have to ask about Kat as well."

"Anyone else?" Aisha asked, knowing the others were rangers longer.

"The only other one I was a ranger with was Tanya." Rocky said.

"Then Rocky's replacement, Justin."

Aisha began searching through the S's again for Tanya. "Nothing on her. What's Justin's last name?"

"Stewart." Came Rocky's reply.

Aisha stayed in the S's looking for Stewart. She shook her head. "Nothing."

"Who do we need to ask about now?" Rocky asked.

"Trini, Zack, Tommy, Tanya and Justin." Aisha replied.

She began dialing the number she wrote up for Jason.

"Hello?" Jason's voice.

"Hey Jason, it's Aisha."

"Hey Aisha, how are you and Adam?" He asked.

"We're good, Rocky's here too. We were looking for old rangers to see who was still or back in Angel Grove."

"If you three are, then most of us are." Jason replied. "I've heard that Kim and Tommy are in town, but I haven't seen them. I will today though." Jason was still confused about why Audrey wanted this emergancy meeting. "I've seen Billy and Trini." He added. "and I've now heard from the three of you."

"Trini and Tommy are in town as well." Aisha relayed to the guys. "What about Zack?" She asked Jason.

Jason thought for a moment, nothing on Zack. "Nope."

"Okay, we're still short on Zack." Aisha told the guys. "Can you give me contact info on Tommy or Trini?" Aisha asked.

"All I know about Tommy is he's teaching at the high school. He and Kim might have talked today, but if they did or didn't, I don't know. I'm supposed to meet with them both later though, I can get something then. I have Trini's number as well."

"Why are you meeting with Kim and Tommy?" Aisha asked.

Jason shrugged. "Some new girl in town says she needs to meet with the three of us and that it's important."

"Interesting." Aisha said. "Okay, what's Trini's number?"

Jason gave her the number and they ended the call.

"Okay now we just need to find out if anyone knows about Zack, Kat, Tanya and Justin." Aisha said. "Who were the rangers when Justin was?"

"Me, Tommy, Kat and Tanya." Adam listed.

"Okay, we'll have to ask Tommy about him then, Tanya and Kat as well." Aisha said.

They made a few more phone calls and actually heard from Kim that Kat returned to Australia three months before. Apparently that was the only reason Kim was in town now. They still didn't have a number on Tommy or information on Tanya, no one knew if Zack was in town either. Billy had told them that Justin was in college somewhere, but he couldn't recall where.

"Don't you find it odd that everyone is gathering in Angel Grove?" Rocky asked. "Short of Zack we have the full original and ninjetti teams before Kat."

Aisha glanced at Rocky warily. The last thing she needed was to become a ranger again. "Shush." Aisha said.

Adam shrugged. "I seriously doubt they would call on retired rangers to become new rangers."

Youth Center

Zack Taylor dropped his bags off at his new apartment then walked over to the youth center to see if he could find anyone he knew. He saw Trini and Billy over at a table. He thought about not disturbing them, but he decided to at least say hi to his old friends. "Hey guys." Zack said.

Trini smiled and looked up. "Zack!" She said, jumping up to give her old friend a hug. "If only Aisha called later."

"Aisha called you too?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, she, Adam and Rocky were looking for former team members to see who all was here."

Billy nodded. "Yeah she told me that too. She asked about Zack, but I didn't know anything."

"So who all is here?" Zack asked.

"With you here, apparently everyone minus Tanya and Justin."

"And Kat." Trini said.

Billy nodded.

"I don't know any of them." Zack said.

"Neither do I." Trini replied. "Those are the people they're missing though."

"Yeah, I told them what I knew about Justin, which isn't much."

"So who are they?" Zack asked.

Billy found himself explaining the three former rangers to Zack like he did Trini. "After you guys left, the next to leave was Kim. Kat was her replacement as the pink ninjetti. Aisha was the next to leave and Tanya replaced her as the yellow zeo. Rocky next and Justin replaced him as blue turbo."

"Wait, weren't you blue?" Zack asked, confused. He thought Rocky replaced Jason as red.

"Zeo only had five colors. Pink was Kat, yellow was Tanya, blue was Rocky, green was Adam and red was Tommy. I stayed to help as a technical assistant."

"Okay. I see now." Zack said. "So other than the three people I don't know, everyone else is here?"

Billy nodded. "Affirmative." He said. "I have yet to see anyone besides you, Trini and Jason though."

Zack shrugged. "Don't you guys think it's odd that so many former rangers are gathering in town? Nevermind the fact this is home to most of us, if people move away, don't they usually stay away?"

Youth Center, same time, different table

A few tables over, Conner McKnight and Trent Fernandez sat down, takling. "Why are we here exactly?" Trent asked.

"Dr. O teaches at the high school now." Conner said. When a conversation about former rangers hit Conner's ears, he listened. He nudged Trent. "Look over there."

Trent followed Conner's gaze. "I bet I can identify each of them." Conner said. "Trini Kwan, original yellow. Billy Cranston, original blue and ninjetti blue. Zack Taylor, original black."

Trent shrugged. "Are you sure?"

"The one I am sure is Zack just made a comment about former rangers." Conner replied.

"I don't think we were supposed to hear that." Trent replied, knowing it was best to even keep a former identity secret.

"Maybe not, but we did." Conner replied. "I'm going to go talk to them, you with me or not?"

Trent sighed and stood up. They walked over to the older three. "Hey you guys look really familiar and I just wanted to make sure I'm not mistaken." Conner said.

"If you are, how are you going to explain knowing the names." Trent whispered in Conner's ear.

"Old friends of Dr. O." Conner whispered back.

The three looked at the new people at their table. "I don't think either of you look familiar in any way." Trini said.

"You're Trini Kwan." Conner responded.

Trini looked shocked. How did they know her?

"And you're Billy Cranston."

"Okay, this is creepy." Trini whispered to Billy.

"You're Zack Taylor."

"Okay, so you know us." Trini told Conner. "Who are you?"

"I think it's best not to say here." Conner said. "We overheard you from there."

The five walked outside and into a secluded area. Conner nodded to Trini. "Original yellow ranger." Then to Zack. "Original black ranger." Finally to Billy. "Original blue and ninjetti blue ranger."

"How did you know all this?" Billy asked.

"Conner McKnight, Red dinothunder ranger." Conner extended his hand. "That's Trent Fernandez, white dinothunder."

They shook one another's hands. "I don't think I've heard of you guys." Billy said, he usually kept up with the different rangers to run through Angel Grove.

"We hail from Reefside." Conner explained. "We came here to visit a former teacher of ours."

"Tommy." Billy said.

Conner nodded. "Tommy Oliver, original green, original white, ninjetti white, zeo red, turbo red and dinothunder black." Conner rattled off.

Billy looked at him in shock, first that he knew all of this and second that Tommy had been a ranger again.

"Black's my color!" Zack exclaimed. All three original rangers laughed.

"He hasn't touched blue yet." Billy said happily.

"Or yellow." Trini replied.

"I'd like to see him in pink." Zack added. "Guys, this makes it more weird. Not only are the original group of rangers showing up, home... other former rangers who aren't even from here are showing up."

Billy nodded. "Something could be up."

A/N: Okay, this chapter was solely to get the others involved in the story. Now, which of my former reviewers was right? Do you have evidence supporting your guess? I don't have prizes for the people who are right. I just want to see who all has been paying attention. The answer should be revealed in the next chapter, but don't hold me to this. Read and review people please! Lots of reviews!


	10. Getting Answers

A/N: This is the chapter you've all been waiting for. It's still the 31st, by the way.

Reviews:

**riverkirby**: Rocky in pink? Hmmm maybe that could be arranged. As for the rest of your review, we shall see soon.

**Lavonne Adams**: I actually don't have plans for them to show, they're unneeded as are some of the power rangers who have shown up thus far, that was just people reminiscing about old times basically.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers

**Chapter Ten: Getting Answers**

Angel Grove High

Tommy dismissed class and Audrey walked up to his desk. "Today, after class." She said in a serious tone. "No excuses."

Tommy nodded. Whatever it was, Audrey seemed pretty set on talking to them. "I'll be there, don't worry."

She shot him a glance. "You talked to her?"

He nodded again.

"And?"

He shrugged. "Things have been solved and we're friends."

Audrey gave a disappointed look.

"Maybe one day." He said with a laugh. "Anyway, you better get going. Kim might kill us both if you're late."

Audrey laughed and walked off. When she got to her locker, she switched out her books and picked her backpack up before closing it again.

"Hey Audrey."

She turned to see Alex. "Hey." She said with a smile. She smoothed out her light pink skirt.

"How are you doing?"

Audrey shrugged. "Better." She smiled. "I'm actually on my way to gymnastics class now."

Alex smiled. "Good. So I guess I helped then."

She smiled and nodded.

"I'll see you later then."

"See ya." She said before heading out toward practice.

Jason's Dojo

Jason sat in his office trying to get things finished so he could take a break at the right time to head over to Kimberly's. He glanced at the clock. _Two hours._ He was incredibly curious as to what Audrey needed to talk to them about. _Me, Tommy and Kim. What on earth could she have to talk about that has to do with all three of us? Friend, science teacher and gymnastics coach._ Nothing he thought of really clicked. The only thing he could think of was power rangers related and there was no way Audrey knew that, or was there?

Angel Grove High

After his talk with Audrey, Tommy headed toward his office. He stepped in and thought for a little bit. _What could she need to talk to us about?_ He thought to himself. Granted, he was glad to be pushed to talk to Kimberly again. It actually went pretty well. It felt amazing to see her again. The love in her eyes was obvious from the second their eyes had caught each other. He was sure it was pretty evident on his part too. He just needed time. He was glad, however, to know that there hadn't been someone else. That had confused him for years. When he got the letter so many years ago, he immediately thought some evil force was behind it. There was no way Kimberly would replace him as quickly as she had apparently done. It actually made sense now, to some extent anyway. Kimberly had always striven to make Tommy happy. She had been willing to give up her dream, however painful it was for her to even consider it. The things Tommy couldn't get past, however, were how on earth Kimberly had thought it would actually make him happy and why she hadn't told him sooner.

Kimbery's Studio

It felt weird walking back into the studio. She walked straight to Kimberly's office and knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in." Came the voice from within.

She opened the door.

"Audrey!" Kimberly said. "It's good to see you again." She smiled. "How are you feeling?"

Audrey's stomach panged with guilt. "Better." She said, meaning something different than Kimberly thought. "I just wanted to know if I could talk to you after practice?"

Kimberly glanced at Audrey, she'd been wanting to talk a lot after practices lately. Well, that is when she'd been in practice. "What's up?" She thought, hoping it didn't have to do with Tommy again.

"I would rather not say right now." Audrey said. "It's kind of important though."

Kimberly nodded. "Alright. Will you be participating today?"

Audrey nodded. "As a matter of fact, I still need to change."

"Okay, see you in a few."

Audrey closed the door and walked toward the dressing room. As she walked in, she heard the other girls voices. "Hey." She said as she walked in.

The three girls nodded to her. "Feeling better?" Haley asked her.

"Yeah, I am, thanks."

The other girls seemed happy to have her back. That was good, at least. She was sure some people in Orlando, namely Karissa, had celebrated her leaving. She quickly dressed for class and headed out to the floor to begin her warmups.

After the girls finished their warmups, Kimberly walked out onto the floor. "Okay girls. Here's what we're going to do today." She listed off the starting positions for each girl. Audrey was starting on the beam, Haley the bars, Amber the vault and Renae on the floor. The girls assumed their positions and Kimberly walked around the room as the girls went through their routines. Audrey was still keeping her work on the other routine a secret, so she decided to work on a new routine she began thinking of while she was supposed to be listening to Tommy in class.

Kimberly smiled. Any other girl would falter after even a few days out of practice. Audrey stepped right in. No questions or anything. She was very pleased with Audrey's performance and she was doing very well on this new routine she was working on.

She continued walking around the room. Haley was adjusting to the new bars routine well. She had noticed Haley was a little edgy on the bars during the first day practice, so she started Haley on the bars every day, the second day she worked with her on a relatively simple routine. It was getting smoother.

Amber and Renae were doing well on their respective apparatus' as well. She had a small but stable group of champions. She felt these girls could actually go somewhere.

After a while, she had the girls rotate. Audrey was now on the vault. She hated the floor and Kimberly knew it. Kimberly knew it well.

After two more rotations, class was almost over. She looked up and saw Tommy standing in the doorway. She gave him a smile and got a smile in return. She blew her wistle. "Okay girls. Good jobs today for each of you. I'll see you ladies tomorrow."

Audrey smiled. Kim and Tommy's glances at one another didn't go unnoticed. They may not be together now, but it was inevitable. She finished her floor routine and ran over to Kimberly. "Let me shower and change, then where should I meet you."

"In my office, I guess." Kimberly said.

Audrey didn't mention why Tommy was there. She ran to the locker room.

Kimberly walked over to Tommy. "Hey." She said with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Actually, Audrey does." Tommy said, shocked that Kimberly didn't know he was going to be there.

Kimberly sighed. Was Audrey trying to get her and Tommy back together?

"Hey Kimmy." Jason stood in the doorway. He smiled. Tommy and Kim definitely still shared feelings for one another.

Kimberly looked up and smiled. "Hey Jase." She said, walking over to give him a hug. "Now what's all this about?"

"Audrey wants to meet with the three of us about something." Jason said. "Didn't she tell you?"

Kimberly shrugged. "She said me, but I didn't know there were other participants."

Audrey walked out of the dressing room, clean, dry and back in her light pink skirt and white shirt. "Hey guys." She said with a smile.

"Ready?" She looked at Kim.

Kimberly nodded and led the three to her office. Once they were all inside and seated, Kimberly turned to Audrey. "Okay, I assume you're starting?" She asked, wondering what this was about.

Audrey nodded and looked at the other three. "Okay, on my birthday, I was having a really really bad day and ran away." Audrey started. All three returned shocked expressions. None of them were aware that she had run away. She continued. "The only thing that stopped me was that this red guy who introduced himself as Lord Zedd-" She was cut off.

"Wait, you've seen Zedd?" Jason asked.

Audrey nodded.

It became clear to all three of them why they were there, or so they thought. Only one person in the room really knew what was going on more than Audrey, more than anyone.

She continued. "Anyway, he told me to join him and I pretty much refused. I asked him why he wanted me and he told me to talk to my friends." She glanced at Tommy. "That's why I asked you to meet with me yesterday. I was going to go to Jason next, then Kim, but you convinced me to give you more time."

Tommy nodded.

Kimberly looked at him questioningly.

"I didn't think it was right for our first meeting after so many years to be around other people. I wanted time to find out what really happened between us before we met." He explained.

Kimberly nodded understandingly. "I guess I might have reacted the same."

"Anyway," Audrey looked at Jason. "After I left here last night, he came to me again."

"Where?" Jason asked.

"Right outside the studio." She answered.

"You didn't run back in?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "I didn't think about it."

Jason shook his own head, for a different reason. "Next time, don't talk, just run."

Audrey nodded. "Can I finish now?"

All three looked at her silently, waiting for her to continue.

"He says I'm special and he told me to talk to you guys." She said. "Well, I think you guys. He specifically named Kimberly, then said her friends."

Kimberly paled. It was time.

Tommy, Jason and Audrey looked at her expectantly.

She smiled weakly. "I guess it's storytime." She said softly.

A/N: I'm evil. I actually wasn't going to end it here. I changed my mind though. I am really curious to hear your thoughts on this now. Please read and review. Also, my cousin has started her Power Rangers fic. It's called Reunions and can be found on the profile page for this account.


	11. Storytime

A/N: Now, for real, the chapter you have all been waiting for.

Reviews:

**riverkirby**: It could happen. He doesn't have a girlfriend and men are notoriously bad for doing laundry. I will say this and only this, you are very observant.

**Lavonne Adams**: Kimberly is too young to have a seventeen year old daughter.

**GinaStar**: Thank you, I will take that as a compliment.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I still don't own it. The characters I do own are Audrey, Mallory and Alana.

**Chapter Eleven: Storytime**

Three pairs of eyes remained on Kimberly. She tried not to look away, she felt them probing into her soul. They expected answers and she was the only one who could give them to them. She bit her lip. Did she really have to tell this story? Now? With Jason and Tommy here? She knew she would have to tell Audrey one day, but she could already see Jason and Tommy's disappointment in her mind and she hadn't even begun.

Where _should _she begin? This was going to be extremely hard to explain to Audrey, let alone with her best friend and ex-boyfriend there. At least they would understand what Kimberly was talking about, but she could see them not being happy about the way it was done. The fact that Audrey wasn't told until now. And the fact that Zedd was after Audrey for something Audrey didn't know about.

Kimberly cleared her throat. "Okay, this all starts several years back. I had fourteen gymnastics students who I felt could achieve more. All fourteen of them had other obligations and couldn't give up the time necessary to train like they needed to. I had a meeting with each of them and their parents. In the end, six of those students had given up other obligations to train more seriously."

As she began her story, each person in the room wondered what this had to do with Audrey and more importantly, Zedd. Audrey knew she was one of the six that Kimberly was talking about, but what did gymnastics training in Orlando have to do with a bad guy in Angel Grove?

"Out of these six," Kimberly continued, "I began to notice a little more in one than the other five. A lot of me, in several ways."

Audrey wondered if this was still about her. A lot of Kim in her? What did she mean?

"Well, shortly after they began their training, I got really sick."

Audrey nodded. She remembered this. Kimberly had been really sick and the gymnastics students were sure they were going to lose their trainer.

"The doctors didn't know what it was, but they said if something wasn't done soon, they weren't sure how long I would live. Then someone came to me. He told me that it was my powers that were causing it and I needed to pass them on to someone."

_Powers? _Audrey thought. _What kind of powers?_ This really confused Audrey, but she continued listening. _Listen now, ask later._

"At that time, the only person I knew of that could handle them was too young to carry the burden. So I decided to do what was best. I asked to see her and I transferred them to her unknowingly. I was going to tell her when the time came, but in Orlando it didn't come up much that power rangers existed... never, actually. When Kat asked me to move back, I had no way of telling her. Then I ran into her here in Angel Grove. She began training under me again."

_So why wait till now to tell me this, whatever this is?_ She thought silently, still opting to ask questions later.

"She got sick and that worried me. I tried to call her to find out what it was, but she wasn't taking my calls."

Audrey suddenly felt more guilt run through her. Kimberly had worried all because she lied about being sick.

"Another student said she was at school, but must not be well enough to attend practice. That made me feel a little better, if she was attending school, it wasn't bad." Kimberly sighed. "I really didn't mean for you to find out this way, Audrey."

When it became clear the story was over. Audrey spoke up. "Tell me what, exactly?" She asked.

Jason spoke up. "That you're a power ranger." He glanced at Kimberly. "How could you do this to her?"

Kimberly sighed. There it was. Jason was mad and she was sure Tommy was as well. "I had no choice." She said softly. Somehow, Jason could make her feel really low when he was mad at her, thankfully, that wasn't often.

Audrey looked confused. "What exactly is a power ranger?"

Tommy watched Jason stare Kimberly down. It was obvious he wasn't happy with her, granted, he wasn't either, but Kimberly had stated her reasons. Maybe it was his love for her, but he couldn't have beared the thought of finding out she had died, especially if the cause was her powers. "A power ranger is one of five or six people chosen to save the planet from monsters like Zedd."

"But I'm only seventeen." Audrey said. "I can't save the planet."

"We were fifteen." Kimberly told her, pointing to herself and Tommy. "Jason was sixteen."

"Okay..." Audrey bit her lip, trying to let all of this sink in. "You said there are five or six, who are the others?"

Kimberly shook her head. "We don't know yet, but you will find out when the time is right." She turned to Tommy and Jason. "There are others, right?" She bit her lip.

"None that I've heard of, but there have to be soon. If Zedd's back, they'll be called." Jason said.

"I hope it's not Dino Thunder again." Tommy said, shaking his head. "I was really hoping to retire this time."

"Dino Thunder?" Kimberly asks. "Tommy, how many teams have you been on?"

Tommy thinks for a moment. "Original, Ninjetti, Zeo, Turbo, then after a long break, Dino Thunder."

Kimberly shakes her head. "And how many colors did this consist of?"

"Green, white, red and black." Tommy listed.

"Black?" Kimberly asked, she hadn't pictured Tommy as a black ranger.

"Um okay, so do I get a choice in this? Or is it you're a power ranger and that's it?" Audrey asked, finally speaking up.

"You get a choice." Kimberly said. "I know it was forced on you, and I'm sorry, but if you want me to, I'll take them back."

"I'll think about it." Audrey said.

A/N: What will Audrey's choice be?


	12. Captured

A/N: The date is no longer relevant. It was in the first eleven chapters so you could see how quickly everything was happening. Now it's maybe a couple of weeks later. Audrey has been thinking about the decision she has to make, but she's still unsure. Zedd has thus far left her alone, but have you known Zedd to leave people, especially potential rangers alone for long?

Reviews:

**riverkirby**: Yes, Audrey's friends are still coming. If they don't show up in this chapter, they will be back soon.

**ThePink1 at Reefside**: Thanks for your reviews. Yeah, I've had close calls without a spotter before too, so I know the feeling. I'm also glad to see someone has caught my hints about a certain character.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers, I do own Audrey, Mallory and Alana

Chapter Twelve: Captured

Evans Home

Audrey wrote down all of the pros and cons about accepting this responsibility in a notebook. So far, the list was pretty even, it was a tough decision to make. She was now sitting in her bedroom after school, looking over the list again. She sighed heavily. Jason, Tommy and Kim had been training her to fight, even if she didn't accept it, they figured Zedd wouldn't stay away from her, so it was best for her to be able to defend herself. She still didn't know. She'd have to fight and that was one thing Audrey Evans was not. A fighter. It was also pointed out several times that Zedd wouldn't leave her alone, regardless of her choice. At least if she accepted it, she would have the power to defend herself. She loved helping people, but she didn't want to become some local hero. They had told her she was to keep her identity secret if she did accept it. At least if she became a local hero, no one would know and she could live her life as normal. So many choices!

This was one decision Audrey really wished she could have others make for her. They had all said they would stick by her no matter what decision she made, but they hadn't said more than that. She closed her notebook and curled up on her bed. What would she do?

Parker Home Orlando, FL

Alana was packing some of her things while Mallory made flight plans. They would be in Angel Grove within the next week and they were both extremely excited. Too bad Audrey didn't know and couldn't share the excitement. The surprise was going to be worth it though, they knew Audrey was miserable there and maybe, just maybe having her friends there would make things better.

Alana heard her sister get off the phone and walked out into the living room. "So?" She asked.

Early next week. Mallory answered with a smile.

Alana smiled. "Great." She said, wishing it were sooner, but hey, a week was good. "So are are things with James and Celeste?" Alana asked her sister.

"Not so well." Mallory said. "Celeste thinks he's dating her because she acts so much like Audrey."

Alana shook her head. "Isn't he?"

Mallory shrugged. "He says he sees her as a little sister now."

"Celeste?" Alana asked. "Or Audrey?"

"Audrey." Mallory sighed. "I also think he's dropping out."

"What?" Alana asked. "Why?"

"I don't know, but he was there getting withdrawal forms when I was. He said he was dropping all classes."

Alana's eyes widened. "Weird."

"Tell me about it."

Angel Grove Park

Later that night, Audrey walked through the park, the same decision running through her head. What was she going to do? Could she really accept the powers? Just then, Zedd appeared once again. "Ready to join me?" He asked her.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "I thought you gave up, but I guess not even you are that smart."

"Silence!" Zedd had figured this was going to be the way he had to go, a light shot from his staff and Audrey fell to the ground. They disappeared together.

The Next Day, Kimberly's Studio

After Kimberly's class let out, Tommy ran into the studio. "Have you seen Audrey?" He asked. "She wasn't in class this afternoon."

Kimberly gestured to the three girls on the mat, getting ready to leave. "Nope, she missed my class too."

Tommy shook his head. "This is the first time she's missed all year."

Kimberly nodded. "She rarely misses classes, the only days she missed mine were when she was going to quit." Kimberly and Audrey had discussed that shortly after her return to gymnastics. She felt bad for the girl, but she explained her own incident and almost ending her own career. It seemed to be what Audrey had needed. "Come to my office with me." Kimberly said, she was getting worried.

Tommy and Kimberly walked into her office and she dialed the Evans' home number. She got no answer and hung up. "She's not home either." She said with a sigh. She looked over Audrey's registration form and found her cell phone number. Again, it rang and rang, but no answer. "Tommy, what if Zedd's behind this?"

"Come on, Kim, let's go talk to Jason." Tommy and Kimberly walked out of her office. Kimberly sighed. Whatever happened to Audrey wasn't looking good.

Jason's Dojo

Jason was teaching a class when Tommy and Kimberly walked in. He saw they looked distressed and asked his assistant to take over. The three headed into his office. "What's up?" He asked them.

"Audrey's missing." Kimberly answered.

"She wasn't at school." Tommy added.

"Or in gymnastics class." Kimberly said.

"Kim tried both her home and cell phones and she's unreachable."

Jason shook his head, this wasn't looking good. With Zedd being after Audrey, the looks were he got her. He only hoped he was wrong. "I need to have a little talk with someone. I'll get back to you guys as soon as I can. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this."

A/N: Who will Jason talk to? What's going to happen to Audrey? Why did James withdraw from school? Sorry this chapter is so short, but I didn't want to give too much information too soon. Things will pick up real soon. Read and review please!


	13. Destroy Alex

A/N: I finally got this chapter done. I wasn't sure if I was going to or not, I was having some troubles trying to figure out where to go from here.

Reviews:

**riverkirby**: We shall see.

**GinaStar**: It's fine and here's another update, hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers. I do own Audrey, Mallory and Alana. A friend of mine owns Alex.

**Chapter Thirteen: Destroy Alex**

Moon Palace

Lord Zedd had left two of his newest minions to watch over Audrey. She was still unconscious. Tristan and Logan, however bright they weren't, watched over her proudly. If other minions came into the area she was being held, they loved to point out that they were watching her just as Lord Zedd had told them to.

Audrey groaned as she began to wake up. She had a huge headache. She opened her eyes and tried to focus. She saw two creatures. "Where am I?" She asked.

"You're in Lord Zedd's holding room." Tristan answered her. "You're his prisoner."

"Why would I be his prisoner, you fool?" Audrey asked. "I serve him."

Jason's Dojo

Alex walked into the dojo and saw Jason instructing a class. He waved over to him.

Jason nodded. "Meet me in my office, I'll be there in a minute."

Alex nodded and went into Jason's office and sat down. As he sat there, he thought about Audrey. He really liked that girl, but she seemed to not return the feelings. What's more, she seemed to be missing school lately. He thought of trying to call her the night before, but he didn't want to push it.

While Alex was lost in his thoughts, Jason walked in and closed the door. He walked around to sit behind his desk. "Thank you for coming, Alex."

Alex nodded, returning from his thoughts. "What did you need?"

"Audrey Evans is missing." Jason said.

"Missing?" Alex asked. "How is she missing?"

"She hasn't been to school or gymnastics. Kimberly called her house and her cell and got no answer." Jason explained. "We suspect Lord Zedd has something to do with it."

Alex nodded. He knew what he was needed for. He had to find Audrey and save her. "What makes you think he has her?" Alex asked, he needed to get all the information possible.

Jason sighed. "He's after Audrey. He wants her to join him."

"And so you think he finally got her?" Alex asked.

Jason nodded. "I also think he used a spell to turn her evil."

Alex wasn't prepared for this. He wasn't prepared to fight the girl he had a crush on. He nodded slowly. "How would we break the spell?" He asked.

"It depends on the kind of spell used." Jason answered. "Sometimes the spell requires an object to be destroyed, sometimes you can make the person fight the spell. You might have to be prepared to fight her, but only defend yourself, try not to harm her, if possible."

Alex felt he could do that. If his goal was to cause as little harm as possible to her, it might be okay. "Where can she be found?" He asked. He was prepared to go now.

Jason shook his head. "We don't know, last time we fought Zedd he had stationed himself on the Moon. I don't know if that's where he is or not."

"Should I try to locate her, or should i wait?" Alex asked.

"I think we should wait around and see what happens for now." Jason answered. "I'm going to talk to Billy and see if we can find a way to track her. In the meantime, be prepared. If Zedd did turn her evil, she may show up anytime."

Alex nodded, taking all of this in.

"Also, he might tell her to deceive you." Jason cautioned. "She might be under a spell but make you think she's herself. So watch yourself around her."

"Alright." Alex answered. "I'm ready for whatever happens."

Jason smiled. "I had hoped you would say that. I'll let you know what we come up with."

Moon Palace

"Get these chains off me." Audrey said glaringly to Logan.

"I'm not allowed to, miss." Logan said, apologetically.

"I don't care." Audrey said. "I want them off and I want them off now."

"Tristan has gone to get Lord Zedd." Logan answered her. "You can ask him to remove them when he gets here."

"I will." Audrey said. "Then I will tell him what ignorant help he keeps around here."

Tristan reentered the room, followed by Lord Zedd. He looked down at the girl. "I see you have finally awoken." He said to her.

"Yes, I am awake and I want these chains off now." Audrey responded through gritted teeth.

"Patience." Lord Zedd responded. "Why should I remove your chains?" He asked her.

"Because I serve you." She answered simply.

Lord Zedd was satisfied with this answer, however, he wanted to be sure. "Who is your enemy?" He asked her.

"The power rangers." She answered. Pink sparks lit her eyes as she said those words.

Lord Zedd smiled. He had her completely under his control. "Especially the Triforian ranger." Lord Zedd informed her. "His name is Alex and this is his picture." He held up a picture of Alex.

Audrey's eyes glowed with a pink tint once more. "Destroy Alex." She said simply. All feelings for the boy vanished under the spell, now her crush was turned into hatred.

Jason's Dojo

Alex had since left Jason's office and now Jason was on the phone with Billy Cranston. "Billy, tell me what we can do."

"Well, I've entered the old command center and it's totalled, however the computers seem fully fuctional. I'll have to get in and run a few more tests to be positive, but I think we can track Lord Zedd and possibly find Audrey."

Jason nodded. This was good. "Alright. Do you know anything about other power rangers?" They were going to need help.

"Right now, all I know of are the two you informed me of." Billy answered. "We have a full team of former rangers in town plus others. If we can get Alex to bring Audrey to us, surely someone can figure out how to break the spell."

Jason nodded. "We're going to have to find a team of rangers and mentor them ourselves."

"I was afraid of that." Billy answered. "How will we find them."

"I'm not sure yet, but we will need to as soon as we can. Start calling all former rangers in town and have them meet us at the command center."

Billy nodded. "Who should I call?"

"You call Rocky, Aisha, Adam and Tommy." Jason told him. "I'll call Zack, Trini and Kimberly."

"Alright, I'll get on it." Billy told him.

"I'll also need you to make some more communicators." Jason added. "I'm not sure how many yet."

Billy nodded again. "Okay Jason. I'll see you at the command center."

Both guys got off the phone and began making their phone calls.

Command Center

Kimberly walked into the command center and saw nine faces turn to greet her. "Hey guys." She said brightly. "Guess I'm the last one here."

Jason nodded. "It's alright, Kim. You had a class."

Kimberly nodded and walked over to where the others were. "Wow, memories." She smiled sadly. The place was a wreck, but she had so many fond memories within these walls. "So what's up?"

Trini laughed as Kimberly stood next to her. "I was wondering the same thing. The only ones who know anything are Jason and Billy."

The former rangers formed a semi circle in the center of the command center. From right to left they were Kimberly, Trini, Billy, Tommy, Zack, Adam, Aisha, Rocky and Alex. Jason stood directly front and center in front of the circle. Once a leader, always a leader. "First off." Jason began. "I would like to introduce Alex." He waved for Alex to join him for a moment. "Those of you who were zeo rangers have met his father, Trey."

A look of recognition spread across the faces of Tommy, Adam, Rocky and Billy, even though Billy wasn't a ranger at that time, he still knew who Trey was, having been a technical advisor for the zeo rangers. The others were pretty much clueless.

Jason continued. "Alex has followed in his father's footsteps and come to help earth as the Triforian Gold Ranger." He motioned for Alex to return to his place. "Now I will explain the problem. Kimberly and Tommy have a student named Audrey Evans." Jason explained. "She's a senior at Angel Grove High and one of Kimberly's top level gymnasts. She's missing and we assume Zedd has something to do with it."

"Wait." Rocky spoke up. "Wasn't Zedd put out of commission?"

Jason nodded. "However, it appears he has returned. He has been trying to convince Audrey to join him." Jason glanced at Kimberly. "Would you like to explain this part?"

Kimberly bit her lip and shrunk under Jason's glare. "About seven years ago." She began, not looking anyone in the eye. "I was put in a position where I had to pass on my powers. At the time, I only knew of one person I could pass them to. I knew, when she was old enough, she would be able to handle them. However, at the time, she was ten years old." Kimberly felt all eyes on her. "So I passed them to her without her knowledge. Since her move to Angel Grove, Zedd has been trying to get her to join him so he can use her powers, my powers for evil."

Jason spoke up next. "I think Audrey might be under an evil spell, right now, Alex is the only one equipped to fight. Since we don't want to harm her, it shouldn't be hard, all he has to do is defend himself. Breaking the spell will be harder, however, I think between all of us, it can be done."

"What are the chances she isn't under a spell?" Adam asked.

"It's possible, but not likely." Jason said. "He wanted her for her powers, if he's simply holding her, they are of no use to him."

Adam nodded. "So what's next? You're going to ask all of us to suit up again?"

Jason shook his head. "Our time has come and gone." He answered. "Starting with Audrey and Alex, a new generation of power rangers will begin."

"And we're going to what? Mentor them?" Kimberly asked.

Jason nodded. "When the time is right, we will find them. In the meantime, we can handle this one."

"I hope." Kimberly spoke the words all ten of them were thinking.

A/N: So Audrey is under Lord Zedd's spell and it's up to Alex and the former rangers to save her, once they find her. Will they find her? Will they be able to break the spell? Who will become the new team of power rangers? Read and review guys!


	14. Audrey Returns

A/N: Audrey makes a return to Angel Grove High, but she's not as people remember her.

Reviews: No reviews

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. I do own Audrey, Mallory and Alana.

**Chapter Fourteen: Audrey Returns**

Angel Grove High School

Tommy sat at his desk waiting for his students to come into the room. He saw Alex walk in, looking pretty dejected. Audrey's disappearance had taken a toll on the poor boy. Tommy couldn't help but wonder that if Jason was right and Audrey was evil how Alex would react to it. He knew that under a spell like Rita's or Zedd's one can care less about the people they hurt, even a good friend, or a crush. Under his own spell years ago, Tommy wanted Kimberly and the other rangers dead. Audrey only had one ranger to go up against for the time being, but as long as Alex could keep himself in one piece, he was more than likely enough to break the spell and save Audrey. If all else failed, there were enough former rangers in town to assist in any way possible.

Conner McKnight walked into the classroom. Tommy looked up, shocked to see his former student. "Hey Dr. O." Conner greeted him.

"Conner? What are you doing here?" Tommy asked.

"I just came by to visit. Trent's in town too." Conner replied.

"How long are you guys in town?" Tommy asked.

Conner shrugged. "We don't know yet."

Tommy nodded, suddenly, his gaze shot to the door when a familiar blonde head walked into class. He turned to Alex and watched his reaction.

Alex was sitting at his desk when he saw Audrey, at first he thought it was an illusion, but when he realized she was really there, he walked over to her. "Audrey? You're here?" He asked.

Audrey glanced up at the person speaking to her. It was Alex. _Destroy Alex._ "So I am." She replied, rather curtly.

Alex looked hurt, but he regained his composure. "I was worried about you."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself, Alex." She answered. "I've done so for seventeen years, what's another fourty-eight hours?"

Alex sighed. What was with Audrey's new attitude?

"It wasn't like you tried calling or anything." Audrey said, she actually wasn't sure if he had called or not, since she hadn't been home, but making him think she had been home was best for now.

Alex stuttered, he knew he was caught. "I...uh... I didn't want to be too forward."

Audrey smirked, so she had been right. Alex _hadn't_ called her. "Right, Alex. Well... leave me alone. Class is about to start."

Alex sighed and walked back to his desk. Behind his back, Audrey's eyes flashed pink.

Tommy and Conner watched the exchange. It was almost creepy how Audrey's attitude had changed toward Alex. It reminded him of his sophomore year when he was under Rita's evil spell. If Tommy had seen Audrey's eyes flash, that would have sealed it, however, Alex was Tommy's line of vision. "Hey Conner, I need to go talk to one of my students. Are you going to sit in on class today?"

"If you don't mind, I could sit in." Conner answered.

Tommy nodded. "It's fine." He walked over to Audrey's desk. "Hey Audrey, are you okay?" He asked her.

"What's it to you?" Audrey asked. "You're just an old teacher."

Tommy was hurt. Her attitude had changed toward him as well. "I just know you like Alex and I saw the way you were talking to him. Did he do anything to upset you?"

"He existed." Audrey answered darkly.

Tommy sighed. He was pretty sure Jason was right, but there was nothing they could do until she came out. "Alright, well I need to start class. If you want to talk, you can see me after class."

"Yeah right." Audrey said as Tommy walked back to the front of the classroom.

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Tommy dismissed his class and saw Audrey walk out quickly. She was now avoiding them. He went to his office and dialed Kimberly's studio number.

"Kimberly Hart's Gymnastics Studio." Came the answer. "This is Kimberly."

"Kim, Audrey's back and I have a feeling she'll be heading to gymnastics." Tommy said, sounding grave.

Kimberly thought about Tommy's tone. If Audrey was back, wouldn't he sound happier... unless... "Tommy? Jason was right, wasn't he?"

"I think so, Beautiful." Tommy answered.

Kimberly sighed. "So what do we need to do?"

"You could try talking to her, but I'm not sure how well it will work." He answered. "That's why I called. Her attitude has changed majorly."

Kimberly bit her lip. "Like how?"

"Like me." Tommy answered.

Kimberly's memory floated back to when Tommy was evil. His attitude had changed drastically from the Tommy she had liked and would eventually love. He was harsh to her and her friends, but mostly her. "Alright, thanks." She said as she saw a blonde head go toward the dressing room through her office window. "She's here, I'm going to go talk to her."

"Okay, be careful, Kim."

"I will."

They hung up the phones and Kimberly headed toward the dressing room. "Audrey?" She called. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Audrey walked out of the dressing room. "What do you want?" Audrey asked.

Kimberly was taken aback. She had been warned, but she still didn't expect this out of her little Audrey. She had known her for so long and she had never taken this tone with Kimberly before. "I wanted to see if you were okay." Kimberly answered. "I hadn't seen you in class the past couple of days."

"I'm fine." Audrey snapped. "I can take care of myself."

Kimberly sighed. Tommy was right. She was acting too much like Tommy did. "Okay, well I'll see you when class starts." She walked back into her office and called Tommy back. "You're right." She said when he answered, before he even had a chance to speak.

"No luck?" He asked.

"None whatsoever." Kimberly answered. "She's never talked to me that way before."

"I think we need to make a few calls and have a meeting in the command center." Tommy answered.

"I think you're right." Kimberly responded. They divided all of the former rangers and Alex and began making phone calls.

Command Center

Tommy, Jason, Billy, Zack, Trini, Aisha, Adam, Rocky and Alex were gathered in the command center. Once again, they were waiting on Kimberly. "Okay guys." Tommy said. "Here's what's going on. Audrey's back in school, but she's gone through a drastic attitude change."

Everyone listened on, Alex was the only one there who was aware of the situation. "What kind of attitude change?" Billy asked.

Tommy glanced at Billy. "She's acting a lot like I did."

Billy, Jason, Zack and Trini glanced at one another. This wasn't sounding good. "I had really been hoping I was wrong." Jason said finally.

Tommy nodded. "I hoped you were too." He sighed. "She showed up in science today. I noticed she was talking differently to Alex, so I went to talk to her. I got similar responses. After class, she rushed off, so I called Kimberly and warned her. Kimberly called me back and reported similar results."

Billy looked around. "Speaking of Kim, where is she?"

Tommy glanced at his watch. "She's just finished up a class, she should be here shortly."

"So what do we do?" Aisha asked. She didn't like the idea of someone evil being in such close proximity to her friends.

"We'll have to try to break it." Jason answered.

"We aren't even for sure this is the problem." Kimberly walked in. "I searched her eyes when I was talking to her, but I didn't see any flashes." She shuddered at the memory of Tommy's eyes after she confronted him at the memory.

"I didn't either." Tommy answered.

"When do you think she'll attack?" Alex asked after being silent up till this point.

"I don't know." Tommy answered. "Just remember not to hurt her, somewhere under the spell, Audrey is really there."

Kimberly nodded. "We have a meet coming up, so as little physical harm to her is best. She would hate to sit out a meet."

"I couldn't hurt her anyway." Alex responded.

"You're going to have to get past your personal feelings." Tommy answered. "She has, but with the help of a spell. She won't care who you are, she's out to destory you."

Alex nodded.

"Does anyone else have anything?" Tommy asked. "Billy?"

Billy shook his head. "I had no luck finding her, but since she's here." He shrugged.

"Jason, what about rangers?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm still thinking about what to do. You, Kimberly, Alex and I are the only ones around teenagers."

Tommy nodded. "I know. Okay, if anyone comes up with anything, give us a call."

The team dissipated and Kimberly turned to Tommy. "I'm worried about her."

Tommy nodded and hugged Kimberly tightly. "So am I."

"She's never ever acted this way before."

"I know, Kim." He held onto her for a while.

A/N: What will happen with Audrey? Will she attack Alex? Will she win? Read and review please!


	15. Audrey Attacks

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I'm getting to the part where I'm not sure what to do or exactly where this is going.

Reviews:

**Lavonne Adams**: Thank you for reviewing again, I wasn't sure if you were still reading or not. I'm actually not sure, myself. At this point I'm playing it out, not sure what's going to happen.

**riverkirby**: I know who the rangers are but I won't give you any hints yet. Soon though.

Disclaimer: I still don't own power rangers. I own Audrey, Mallory and Alana. A friend of mine owns Alex.

**Chapter Fifteen: Audrey Attacks**

Evans Home

Audrey sat around the house waiting for instructions. It was annoying her to no end. Everytime she saw Alex, she wanted to attack and kill him then, Lord Zedd said no. He wants Audrey to wait until the time is right. He could be so infuriating! She sat on her bed and pulled out a notebook, she couldn't for the life of her remember what was in the notebook. She opened it and read. _A pro/con list for becoming a power ranger? What was I thinking?_ She threw the notebook across the room. "Decision made." She said sarcastically.

She walked over to her desk and picked up her hairbrush, she noticed a piece of paper out of the corner of her eye. She picked it up. "Alex Goldstone." She read out loud. Her eyes flashed pink, flashed with hatred, the desire to kill. She crumpled the paper up and dropped it on the floor. "I won't be needing this once he's dead." She said with an evil smirk.

Suddenly, she reappeared somewhere else. "Where am I?" She asked herself, not aware of another presence in the room.

"Are you ready?" Came a voice behind her. She recognized the voice.

"I'm ready when you are." She said with a smile.

"The time is right." He answered.

_It's about time._ She thought to herself as she turned to face Lord Zedd. "I will destroy him."

"Good." He said, next thing she knew, she was alone in the park.

She walked around the park, thinking about her task. Killing Alex would be easy, wouldn't it? I mean, after all, he had a pretty obvious crush on her. _His crush will be his downfall._ She thought to herself with a smile.

Alex's House

Alexzander Goldstone paced around his house. Waiting was hard, not knowing what he was waiting on was harder. He was told he couldn't ask her flat out, so he basically had to wait for her to attack. When would she attack and how? He sat down on the couch and thought for a moment. How could he break the spell? So far, no one else had any ideas.

He had to get out of the house. He walked out of the house and locked the door. He didn't know where he was going, but he needed to think. He walked toward the park and saw a flash of pink. Deciding to go investigate, he ran toward the park and right into Miss Evans herself.

"Watch it!" Audrey said. She stood up and brushed herself off, then looked at the clutz who knocked her over. "Oh, it's you." She said sarcastically. "You know, you're really a clutz."

"Sorry." Alex said, standing up. "I didn't see you there."

"That's obvious." Audrey answered, rolling her eyes.

Alex sighed. Audrey was a completely different person. _Don't think that way, Alex. Underneath the spell, she's the same person._ He knew he was right, it wasn't the sweet adorable Audrey talking, it was the spell. He couldn't help but admit that her attitude was getting to him though. It hurt to hear that stuff from her. "Audrey, listen to me-"

Audrey cut him off. "No, you listen to me." She challenged. "It's time for you to be destroyed."

So here it was. It was time for the attack, but was he ready? "Audrey, if you listen to me, I can help you."

"I don't want to listen to you, Alex." Audrey shook her head. "I listen to one person and one alone. He says to destroy you, so that is exactly that I am going to do."

Alex tried to think of what to do. It was obvious she would be merciless against him, if he used no restraint, he knew he could beat her. He also knew he couldn't do that, beneath this evil exterior was a person like any other. He needed to help her, but how? She wouldn't listen to him and there was no chance of her restraining herself. He wracked his brain for days trying to figure out how to break this spell, but he came up short. He couldn't think of a thing. He had heard stories of other evil rangers in the past, those usually required something destroyed. Was there something he would have to destroy to save Audrey? How would he figure out what it was? If only the former rangers could come up with something to buy him some time. He faced Audrey, he saw the cold hatred in her eyes.

"Too scared to fight me?" Audrey asked him, challenging him to make the first move.

There was no way he was going to attack a girl, evil or not and especially this girl. "I'm not the one with a mission to destory." Alex replied. This was it, no backing down.

Audrey stepped closer. His first move relinquished. She attacked. He dodged. She lay on the ground and he moved closer. He knew this wouldn't work, but maybe, just maybe... He continued stepping closer, he had to do it before she got back up. He reached out his hand to help her up. She glared at him as though he was crazy, but she took his hand. After helping her up, he leaned in and kissed her.

A/N: Yes, that's the end of this chapter. I know it's short and I know you all want to know what happens next (or at least I hope.) Read and review!


	16. The Kiss

A/N: Was the kiss enough to break Lord Zedd's spell?

Reviews:

**Lavonne Adams**: I guess we shall see, huh?

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers. I own Audrey, Alana, Mallory, Alexis and Brittany. My friend owns Alexzander.

**Chapter Sixteen: The Kiss**

Audrey glared at Alex and ran off. "We will finish this later." She said before leaving the park. She didn't stop running until she got home. Once she arrived there, she went straight to her bedroom and locked the door, tears running down her face. She was still evil and she was still on a mission to destroy Alex. Of course she had her old memories and she knew she liked Alex, but that crush had been replaced with hatred and a desire to kill. The kiss left her confused though. A kiss from the enemy shouldn't leave someone feeling this way, should it?

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Alex watched, confused, as Audrey ran off. He hadn't expected that reaction. He hadn't really been sure what to expect, but her running off with a definite threat to finish this had not been on the list of possible reactions he had formulated in his mind. Sure, her running off had been a possibility. Her finishing it as though nothing had happened had been a possibility, but the run and the threat confused him. If she was still evil, the kiss should have had no effect on her whatsoever, right? He turned and walked home, turning that thought over and over in his head. What could the kiss have done to make her react that way. Ashe passed Jason's dojo, he had a better thought. He turned back and walked in. "Jason?" He asked. "You around?"

Jason heard his name and walked out of the office. "Hey, what's up?" Jason asked him.

Alex pointed to Jason's office, signifying this needed to be private.

Jason nodded and led him in, closing the door behind Alex. After the door was closed and Alex had taken a seat, Jason walked behind his desk. "What's up?" He repeated.

"Audrey made her attack." Alex replied.

Jason raised his eyebrows. "And?" He asked, prodding Alex to go on.

"I kissed her." Alex responded. "Her reaction confused me though."

Jason looked at Alex, a kiss wouldn't have been his first guess on how to break the spell. "What was it?" He asked him. Could the spell have really been broken by a simple kiss?

"She ran off and promised to finish the fight later." Alex said in a confused tone.

Jason listened. "So she's definitely still evil then?"

Alex nodded. "It appears so."

"The kiss had an effect on her though." Jason said, more to himself than to Alex.

Alex nodded once more. "What kind of an effect though?"

"Possibly her real feelings, below the spell are coming out and it confused her." Jason said, taking a stab in the dark.

Alex considered this. "So it could be the beginning of breaking the spell, but not the end?" He asked.

Jason nodded. "That's what it sounds like to me. We might want to get more opinions on it though."

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Alexis Jannette Sherman sat on the floor mats doing her stretches and warmups. "Home court this year, Audrey." She said with a smirk as she completed her warmups. She looked around for the Orlando High team, but didn't see them anywhere. She walked over to Courtney, pulling her long brown hair into a bun. "You haven't seen Audrey anywhere, have you?"

Courtney shook her head. "Nope. You don't think they're no-shows, do you?"

Alexis shook her head. "No way, we're tied. Audrey wouldn't give up a chance to break the tie between us." She smirked. "Only I'm determined to make that title mine."

Courtney laughed. "Alex, you're good. You can do it."

"Of course I can." Alexis said, walking over to get a drink of her water.

"And now we will begin our competition with our first competitors." The announcer spoke throughout the gymnasium. "The captain from Miami, Alexis Sherman."

Alexis stepped forward to the applause. She was going to kill Audrey today, she was determined. _I don't care how good she is. I'm the best._

"The captain from Orlando, Karissa Reynolds."

Alexis paled. "What?" She exclaimed out loud. How could this be? She was supposed to compete against Audrey, not Karissa. Karissa was good, but not the best Orlando had to offer. She was sure she could, no doubt, beat Karissa. She wanted real competition. She looked back at the coach for an explanation, but she simply shrugged her shoulders. She walked over to Karissa and shook her hand.

"Good luck, Alex." Karissa told her.

Alex nodded. "You too." Karissa was the only one from Orlando allowed to call her Alex. She was Audrey's archrival back home, making Alexis her rolemodel. "I hadn't expected to compete against you." Alexis spoke honestly.

Karissa nodded. "Audrey moved." She knew exactly what Alexis had meant, and didn't take offense or need explanation.

"We'll talk later." Alexis said.

Karissa nodded and both walked their seperate ways. Alexis started on the beam, her routine now a complete waste.

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Jason and Alex called the team down to the command center once more. Alex explained the kiss senario to everyone, hoping to get insight, especially from Tommy or one of the girls. The girls would understand a female's emotions best and Tommy might be able to shed some light on what being evil really does to a person. When he was finished explaining, Kimberly spoke. "I woudn't expect a kiss to break the spell and it obviously didn't. I can imagine though, that it awoke something inside of her, something that the evil was hiding before."

"So this might be a start to breaking the spell?" Alex asked her.

"It could be, but it's deeper than that." Kimberly explained. "If the kiss didn't break it, there still has to be something done. What that something is, is the question."

Alex nodded grimly, he had hoped that the answer would be that the spell was slowly breaking down.

"When I was evil, it was the sword of darkness that had to be destroyed." Tommy recalled. "Once it was destroyed, I was myself again."

"Did she have any sort of weapon with her?" Kimberly asked.

Alex shook his head. "Not that I've seen."

"Several other spells were broken by the destruction of the creature who had cast it." Billy added.

"Lord Zedd won't be that easy to destroy, if he was, he would have been gone long before he was." Tommy said.

"Well..." Kimberly said. "Maybe it could be as simple as convincing her she needs to look inside herself. I mean, if the kiss caused that sort of reaction, maybe that weakened the spell enough for us to try talking to her."

"Who would be the best person to do that?" Alex asked, willing to try anything.

"Well, Kim has known her the longest." Aisha said. "Sometimes it helps if the person really knows you."

Kimberly nodded. "But she has feelings for Alex, you can tell by her reaction to the kiss alone."

"And the way she stared at him in class before all this happened." Tommy said with a smile.

"If Alex can talk to her, maybe that would work." Kimberly continued.

"What about both of you?" Trini asked.

Kimberly shook her head.

"We don't want her to feel ambushed." Jason said.

"Maybe one at a time then?"

"We need to restrain her somehow." Alex said. "Otherwise she'll fight."

"Restraining her might not be a good idea either." Jason added. "I think trying to talk to her in a place where she's unlikely to fight you is best."

"Around people." Tommy added.

"Well, I could get her at school then." Alex suggested.

Kimberly nodded. "I could get her at practice, but there are only three other girls in her class."

"It's worth a shot." Billy said. "If that fails, we could resort to restraints if necessary."

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After the competition, Alexis approached Karissa. "She moved?"

Karissa nodded. "It came as a complete shock to me. In her absense I was given the title of captain, but I know she would have gotten it if she were still here."

Alexis nodded. "No offense, but she would have definitely gotten it."

"None taken." Karissa said relatively shortly. She hated how Audrey was always the favourite, but suddenly once Audrey was gone, she was put in the position of captain and gymnastics didn't seem so bad anymore afterall.

Alexis raised her eyebrows. "Okay then... well where did she move?"

Karissa shrugged. "I can't remember the name of the town." She told her. "It's not a big city like Orlando or Miami."

"Hmm..." Alexis said thoughtfully. "What state?"

"California, I think." Karissa replied.

"California?" Alexis asked, eyes wide.

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Mallory walked back to the dressing room to talk with her sister. "Hey 'Lana, congratulations." She said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mal." Alana said, brushing her hair down.

"So, the look on Lex's face when Karissa was announced instead of Audrey was priceless." Mallory told her. "Too bad you weren't in the stands, it was definitely worth seeing."

Alana laughed. "Well, she won."

Mallory nodded. "I know, Karissa's really not that good. You would have had a better chance against Lex than Karissa would have."

Alana shrugged. "Moving makes me not really care anymore. If I get a title it means nothing in California."

Mallory looked at her sister sympathetically. She knew Alana was extremely excited about being near her best friend again, but she hadn't really considered what it would do to her to move in the middle of senior year. "I'm sorry, Lanners."

Alana shrugged. "Being near Audrey is all that matters right now."

Mallory nodded in agreement.

"You guys know what I just heard? Lex is moving!" Brittany called as she walked into the room.

"Really? Where?" Alana asked.

Brittany shrugged. "I don't know, I just heard her tell Karissa moving might not be so bad after all."

A/N: Why did the kiss affect Audrey the way it did if she's still clearly evil? Does Kimberly's idea have an affect on Audrey? Where is Alexis moving? All of these questions will be answered in future chapters.


	17. Talking to Audrey

A/N: What will break the spell? Or is Audrey doomed to a life of evil?

Reviews:

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, but I do own Audrey, Mallory, Alana, Alexis, Courtney and Brittany. A friend of mine owns Alexzander.

**Chapter Seventeen: Talking to Audrey**

Alex

Before class, Alex walked over to Tommy's desk. "When should I talk to her?" Alex asked him.

Tommy thought for a moment. He had decided to give it a try as well, his best best was after class, so if Alex could talk to her before class, that would be the best. It all depeneded on when Audrey came into the room. He was broken from his thoughts by the familiar blonde in pink walking into the room. "_Now_." He mouthed to Alex.

Alex nodded and walked over to Audrey. "Hey can we talk?" He asked.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

Alex looked back at Tommy, who shooed them out the door. He felt the emptying hallway would still be safe enough. Alex led Audrey out to the hall. "About yesterday." He said as he closed the door behind them.

"What about it?" She asked, annoyed.

"The kiss." He said, looking her dead in the eyes.

"Yeah, you kissed me, it bought you more time, but don't think this is over." Audrey said, bitingly.

"Audrey, I felt something in that kiss." Alex explained. "It was more than one sided attraction."

Audrey raised her eyebrows. "Are you suggesting I might _like _you?" She asked, disbelieving he would even think such a thing.

Alex sighed. Well, not in so many words, anyway. "Okay this is far from the point I was trying to get to, so let me try again."

Audrey stood there and rolled her eyes again. This was going nowhere fast. If she weren't at risk of getting found out by too many people, she would just fight him right here and now. "Look, I have class, as I'm sure you do too." Audrey said bitingly.

"I have permission to talk to you." Alex said. "We're both excused for the time being." He gave her a concerned look. "Audrey, I really want to help you. Please listen to me. This..." He pointed to her. She was standing with her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently with a very annoyed look on her face. "This isn't you." He said sadly. "You don't attack the rangers, you _are_ a ranger."

"I attack who Lord Zedd tells me to attack." Audrey said, annoyed once more. "And that's you." With that, she opened the door and walked into class.

Alex sighed and followed her into class. _That went well..._

Tommy

After class, Tommy asked to see Audrey. _What does he want?_ Audrey thought to herself. As if she wanted to talk to Dr. 'I want to help you' Oliver.

"Yes?" She asked, her attitude still showing through.

Tommy walked over to his door and closed it. They were the only two in the room and this needed to be kept silent. "I know you're evil." Tommy said after a while.

"What? Do you want a cookie?" Audrey asked, not caring to find out where this was going.

Tommy shook his head. He had known it would be hard to reach out to her. "I want to help you."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Has it ever occured to _any_ of you that I don't want help? First Alex, now you. Who's next? Kim or Jason?"

Tommy shrugged. "I don't know who else is planning to talk to you." He lied. "But I want to help you." He repeated. "Please let me help you." He pleaded.

"I. Don't. Want. Help." Audrey said, punctuating every word._ For a doctor he's not very smart. He must have forgotten everything once his thesis was submitted._

"I know, Audrey." Tommy sat on the edge of his desk. "I know better than you think I do."

"Oh really now?" Audrey asked, she began tapping her foot impatiently, like she did when talking to Alex.

"Yes, really." Tommy answered. "So will you let me help you?"

"No."

"Audrey, come on. This isn't like you."

"Really? How do you know me? Last I checked, I was the new girl here. No one knows me."

"Kimberly does."

"Kimberly _knew_ me. I've changed and I like it."

Tommy sighed. "I was the new guy here once." Tommy explained. "A couple of days later, I was turned evil. I know what it's like to be evil. You may think you like it, but it's not you."

"You and I are two different people, Tommy. Just because you turned back, it doesn't mean I will."

Tommy nodded. "Yes, we are two different people, but I have seen your heart and your heart is not one of evil. You're a very kind and caring person."

"Look where that got me." Audrey said sarcastically. "No the Audrey people can walk all over is gone. The new Audrey is here to stay."

Tommy sighed. He hoped she was wrong. He hoped the nice Audrey would come back, but he wasn't sure how the spell was going to be broken. After talking to Alex and now through this conversation with him, it didn't seem she was breaking any.

"Are you done with me yet?" Audrey asked. "You do know I have a gymnastics class to get to."

Tommy nodded. "I guess so, enjoy your class."

"Sure thing." Audrey said, rolling her eyes once more as she walked out of the room.

Kimberly

After class, Kimberly waited outside the locker rooms to catch Audrey before she bolted. She really hoped Audrey would listen to her, she was, afterall, the one who kenw her the best. When Audrey came out, Kimberly put a hand on her shoulder. "Audrey? Can I speak with you in my office please?"

Audrey rolled her eyes, how did she know this was coming. "I guess. It's not like I have a choice or anything."

Kimberly led Audrey to her office and let her in. She walked around and sat behind her desk. "I've known several evil rangers, Audrey." Kimberly began. "I know you think evil is the way to go right now, but just like all of the evil rangers before you, once the spell is broken you won't feel that way."

"Will people just leave me alone?" Audrey asked. "I'm sick of everyone wanting to help me, people telling me they how I feel. None of you know."

Kimberly opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Audrey.

"No. Not even you." Audrey told her. "You think I'm some sweet little princess. I'm sick of being walked all over. I'm sick of being protected. I like life like this. I'm no longer protected and if you, Tommy or Alex really think I am going to let you take that away from me, you have another thing coming."

Kimberly shook her head. "I've been evil. I tried to kill all of the rangers at that time, including my ex-boyfriend and my best friend. Once the spell was broken, I did what was right. You can do what's right, if you just let us help you."

"I'm sick of that too, I don't care who has been evil and who hasn't. You are not me. You don't know that I will ever regret any of this. I won't. I will stay this way and there's nothing you can do." Audrey turned and walked out the door, leaving Kimberly staring after her.

Audrey

"I seriously can't believe them." Audrey said to her empty bedroom. "I will be who I want to be, why can't they understand that?" Each persons words plagued her mind. They all seemed to think they knew her, but at the same time, they didn't really know her, did they? They thought she was unhappy like this. They wanted to help her and assumed she wanted the help. She rolled her eyes. "As if I need them." She said, laying back on her bed.

Alex

Alex walked through the park once more. He walked over to the lake and sat down. He really wanted Audrey to listen to them, he really hoped it would have worked. He really didn't know what else to do. His kiss made her run away, his talking to her did no good. What good was being a ranger if he couldn't help people. He thew a rock into the water and watched it make ripples. He turned away and he saw Audrey walking through the park. He wasn't ready for another attack, not now.

"Why hello, Alex." Audrey said when she noticed him. "Ready for that fight?"

"No, Audrey, I don't want to fight you."

Audrey smiled. "Good. This will be easy then." She got ready to attack as Alex called on his power staff.

"Golden Power of Triforia use your golden light to clear her mind of darkness." He said, before placing the tip of the staff on her head. Audrey fell to the ground, immediately unconscious.

A/N: Yes, I'm stopping here. Did it work?


	18. Rangers

A/N: So Audrey's unconcious and we don't know if the spell is broken or not. In this chapter, the Parker sisters arrive in town. I also want to apologize for the last chapter coming up so late, I've been busy and I was suffering from a case of writer's block.

Reviews: I had no reviews this chapter, I hope I didn't lose my readers.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. I do own Audrey, Alana, Mallory, Alexis and Courtney. My friend owns Alexzander.

**Chapter Eighteen: Rangers**

At the command center, the nine former rangers gathered in the main room, while Alex sat with Audrey in another room. She was restrained to a bed.

_"Are the restraints necessary?" Alex had asked them. He already felt bad for making her unconscious, he didn't want her to wake up feeling trapped._

_"We still don't know if she's safe." Jason told him. "It's best she doesn't wake up and try to destroy everyone and everything."_

Alex sat in there with the girl who was still unconscious.

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"I feel kinda bad for Alex." Tommy spoke up after a while of silence. The whole group was there waiting on Audrey to wake up.

Kimberly nodded. "It's hard having a crush on someone who is out to kill you."

The first six rangers laughed, knowing all too well what she was referring to.

"It's hard being on the other end of that, too, you know. After the spell is broken, your feelings fall back into place and you wonder if the girl could forgive you." Tommy said.

Kimberly smiled. "You were under a spell, how could I not have forgiven you?" All of the rangers in the room knew the couple at some point in their relationship, even if they never dealt with the evil Tommy, the couple had been devoted to one another, until the letter. Kimberly sighed. "I hope everything works out alright for them." She knew Audrey's dream all too well, she just hoped if she got it, history didn't repeat itself.

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Mallory and Alana finished unpacking everything. "Home sweet home." Mallory said, falling back on the couch.

"Yeah, now can we go see Audrey?" Alana asked.

Mallory laughed and rolled her eyes. "You just spent the day unpacking and you're ready to jump into seeing her?"

Alana nodded.

Mallory threw a pillow at her. "Tomorrow. I promise."

Alana nodded dejectedly.

"She might have a ton of homework to do tonight." Mallory said. "You don't want to interrupt that, do you?"

"Never stopped me before." Alana smirked.

Mallory rolled her eyes again. "I'm tired, I'm going to take a nap." She got up and went to her bedroom and fell back on her bed.

Alana rolled her eyes and sat on the floor stretching.

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"Guys, I think it's time we called on our rangers." Jason spoke up.

Kimberly looked at him, confused. One of the rangers was lying unconscious and they didn't even know if she was good again or not.

"We can call on them before Audrey wakes up." Jason said, as though reading her mind. "But first, we need a game plan."

Tommy looked up. "We need to send them to Phaedos." He said. "Audrey already has the crane powers, so it would make sense to send them to gain the Ninjetti power."

Kimberly nodded. "That makes sense, but what about Audrey?"

"We'll send her too." Tommy answered.

"If she's good when she wakes up, if not, I'm afraid we don't have time to wait on her."

The group both nodded in agreement. Tommy stepped forward. "I've been thinking over this for some time and I've already drawn up a map for them."

"Good thinking, Tommy." Jason answered.

"So who are the new rangers?" Aisha asked.

"We don't know." Jason responded.

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Alex sighed as he watched Audrey lie there. He wanted to know if it had any effect on her, how long would she be unconscious? He considered removing the restraints, but he knew the guys were right. If she was still evil, her being in the command center unrestrained was sure to be a bad thing. He watched her sadly, hoping that one day he could find out her true feelings.

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"You guys ready?" Jason asked.

The semi circle of former rangers nodded.

Billy pushed a few buttons and the next thing they knew, five streaks of light appeared. White, red, yellow, blue and black.

A/N: Yes, yes, I'm ending this chapter here. I know it's short. New rangers revealed next chapter. Read and review please!


	19. Audrey Awakens

A/N: And the rangers are...

Reviews:

**Lavonne Adams**: Sorry had to end it there, here they are though

**riverkirby**: You're about to find out.

Disclaimer: I still don't own power rangers. I do ownAudrey, Alexis, Mallory, Alana, Brittany, Courtney and James. My friend owns Alex.

**Chapter Nineteen: Audrey Awakens**

Mallory Parker had just walked into her bedroom and turned off the light when she was suddenly not in her room anymore, or her house for that matter. She was on the floor of some very strange place. She got up and began looking around. She saw her sister on the floor near her and two guys she didn't know. She also saw. "James?" She asked. Last time she had seen James, he was in Orlando, but now she was in Angel Grove... wasn't she?

Alana heard her sister's voice and stood up, facing her. "Where are we?" She, too looked around. She saw James and the other two boys, all three were standing now. She also saw nine other people. One of which, she recognized. "Coach?"

Mallory turned and saw her old gymnastics coach. "Kim?" She didn't know any of the other people standing in the room. She drew what comfort she could from Mallory, James and Kimberly being there, but having just moved and now being in such a strange place, the feeling of that alone was very unsettling.

James walked over to the Parker sisters, he knew them and he sort of knew Kimberly. He had dated her star gymnast and went to many of the practices and meets. "Miss Hart? Where are we?" He asked. That seemed to be the question on everyone's mind. _Where are we?_

Conner and Trent watched the other three, they seemed very scared and knew one another. They had a feeling this had to do with the power rangers. "Dr. O?" Conner spoke up, seeing his old science teacher and former ranger mentor. "Why are we here?"

Tommy stepped forward. "I guess it's time to answer those two questions." He turned to Kimberly. "Since some of them know you, would you mind helping?" She nodded. She joined Tommy by his side. "You're the new team of power rangers, minus one."

"Are you the other?" Trent asked Tommy.

He shook his head. "The other is in another room right now, unconscious."

At that moment, Alex walked in. "I can't stand to see her restrained like that anymore." He stopped when he saw five newcomers. He looked at Tommy and Kimberly who happened to be the closest to them.

Tommy nodded. "Don't worry, I hope she'll wake up soon." He turned back to the new rangers. "I'm not sure what colors you will be."

Conner opened his mouth.

Tommy cut him off. "I know, you were a red. You watched the video, so you know that I've been multiple colors."

Conner nodded.

Jason laughed. "Yes, Tommy is our resident Christmas tree."

All the former rangers in the room laughed.

Tommy rolled his eyes and continued. "We are going to be sending you to Phaedos to acquire the powers of the Ninjetti." He explained. "We have the six former Ninjetti rangers here, in addition to three other former rangers. We will be your mentors and we expect you to look to us for any help you may need."

All five of the new rangers listened and nodded. The three newest had trouble understaning. What did he mean by rangers? What was Phaedos or Ninjetti?

"Your first task upon your return may very well be fighting one of your own. She was put under a spell and made evil. We're unsure of her state at the moment. If she wakes up and the spell has been broken, she will be joining you on your Ninjetti quest."

Alana took this time to speak the questions on her, Mallory and James' minds. "What kind of rangers? What is Phaedos and what is Ninjetti?"

Tommy nodded to Kimberly. "Mind explaining this one?"

Kimberly nodded. "Mal, Lana, James. I'm a former power ranger. The power rangers are a group of people chosen to protect Earth from evil. You are three of the new group."

The three of them looked at one another, confused. "How are a seventeen year old, an eighteen year old and a twenty-one year old going to save the planet along with these guys." Mallory asked. "Sorry, I don't kow your ages, but you look to be close to our ages."

Conner and Trent nodded.

"I was fifteen." Kimberly told them. "So was Tommy." She motioned around the room. "Everyone in here was between the ages of fifteen and seventeen when they were first chosen.

"Including us." Trent spoke up.

"Where am I?" A voice called from another room. Mallory looked at her sister.

Alana turned to Kim. "That sounded like Audrey."

Alex took that time to run back to the room. Audrey was awake and he wanted to see her.

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"Audrey?" He asked as he walked into the room.

"Alex?" She asked, hearing his voice but not seeing him.

He moved closer. "How are you feeling?" He asked her.

"I have a killer headache." She responded. "Why am I restrained." Her heart sank as memories hit her and hard. She was restrained because of the things she had done. Tears began falling from her eyes and she wanted more than anything to turn away from Alex so he wouldn't see her like this. "Can you get these off me, please?" She pleaded.

"I'll be right back." Alex said, walking out of the room.

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"Dr. Oliver?" Alex said, walking back out to the main room. "She's awake."

Tommy nodded. "I'll be right back." He told the new teens.

"She's crying." Alex said sadly.

"That might be a good thing." Tommy responded, walking over to the other room.

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"How are you feeling?" Tommy asked as he walked into the room.

"Like crap." Audrey said with double meaning. Aside from her head hurting like hell, she felt horrible for the way she'd been treating people.

"Are you aware of what's been going on the past several days?" He asked her.

She nodded, more tears falling. "I'm sorry..." She whispered.

"I know." Tommy said. "I'm going to remove the restraints now." He removed them and helped her sit up. "Now, before we go into the other room, I want you to know there are several people out there, most of which you won't know. Kim, Alex and Jason are among them. Is there anyone you want to see alone before I take you out there?"

Audrey nodded. "I want to see Alex again."

Tommy walked out of the room and a few seconds later, Alex appeared. "Hey." He said, walking over stand by the table she had been laying on.

"Hey." She said softly.

"Head still hurt?" He asked.

She nodded. "Worse, if possible."

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry." More tears fell from her eyes.

"Don't be. I'm just glad you're back."

Audrey smiled weakly. "Thanks to you." She looked at him for a moment. "Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you mean it when you kissed me?"

Alex nodded.

Audrey jumped off the table and hugged him. "I like you too." She said softly.

He leaned down and kissed her.

This time, she kissed him back.

A/N: What will Audrey's reaction be when she sees her friends?


	20. Quest for the Ninjetti Part I

A/N: Here's another chapter. I'm not sure how long the fic is actually going to get. I'm just sort of writing as I go with a few points in mind.

Reviews:

**Lavonne Adams**: Yes, she's herself again.

**GinaStar**: I'm glad you like the chapters you missed and I hope you like this one.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers. I do own Audrey, Alana, Mallory, James, Alexis, Courtney and Brittany. My friend owns Alex.

**Chapter Twenty: Quest for the Ninjetti - Part I**

The group waited for Audrey to rejoin them. They weren't sure what the two were talking about, but they knew she had been through a lot and needed a little time. The problem was they didn't have much time. The new rangers had to go to Phaedos soon.

"So will you answer our other questions?" Mallory asked Kim. "About Phaedos and Ninjetti?"

Kimberly nodded. "Phaedos is another planet. The Ninjetti powers are kept there, each person has an animal spirit and you will go on a quest to earn the right to your animal. I was the crane. Tommy was the falcon. Aisha was the bear, Adam the frog, Rocky the ape and Billy the wolf." She went on. "Those coincided with the colors pink, white, yellow, black, red and blue."

As Kimberly finished her explanation, Audrey and Alex walked into the main room with their arms around one another. "You weren't kidding when you said a lot." Audrey told Tommy.

He laughed lightly. "Here, let me introduce you to everyone. He started at the semi circle, which had moved around a little. "You know Jason, that's Adam, Zack, Billy, Trini, Aisha, Rocky." He said, finishing up the semi circle. "You know Kim and I." He said, then he continued to the line of new rangers. "Conner, Trent..." He said. "I don't know the others names." He said, gesturing to Kim. Audrey looked at the other three rangers. "_Jamesy." _She whispered. She ran over and gave her ex-boyfriend a hug. He hugged her back and after they broke apart she smiled. "Yep, definitely big brother."

"Ouch, burned twice." Alana joked.

"Alana!" Audrey squealed hugging her best friend.

James laughed. "No, she's right. I feel it too. I have for a month or so now."

"So why did Celeste break up with you then?"

"We'll talk about this later." James said, he didn't want his love life revealed in front of a bunch of strange people.

Alana nodded.

Mallory stood quietly, waiting for her friend to notice she was there as well. Audrey soon did. "Mally!" She yelled, hugging Alana's sister and her other best friend.

"I guess I didn't need to introduce them." Tommy joked.

Audrey laughed. "This is James." She told everyone. "He's the friend I've known the longest."

"Hey!" Alana said.

"Sorry, I've known him about three years longer than I've known you guys."

James smiled. "I was there when she was born, kinda hard to beat."

"Anyway, this is Alana and her sister Mallory. I've known them since Alana and I were three."

"Audrey, Alana and Mallory were my students." Kimberly continued. "Audrey has been taking gymnastics classes from me since she moved to Angel Grove too, but I wasn't aware the Parker girls were here."

"We _just_ moved." Alana said. "Like today."

Mallory nodded, really wanting that nap she tried to get.

"What about you, James?" Audrey asked.

"I moved a couple of days ago." He answered.

"Okay, as nice as the catching up may be," Tommy cut in, "the six of you have a quest to go on."

Audrey looked at Tommy, confused. It was obvious she hadn't been briefed on the quest.

Tommy quickly explained what he explained to the others, then he began to finish explaining for everyone. "As I said, I'm unsure of what colors you will be." He said. "I have a guess one of the girls yellow, another pink and I have no clue for the other girl." He said. "I know Audrey already has the crane powers, but that may change once on Phaedos. I also don't know what your animal spirit will be. Audrey may not be the crane and I doubt the white ranger will be the falcon."

"Why?" Kimberly asked.

"The crane and the falcon fly together." Tommy answered. "You never noticed that?"

Kimberly bit her lip. "But Kat was the crane."

Tommy nodded. "Because you passed your power coin on to her. Audrey is the crane for the same reason."

"So what if... say Audrey's the crane and James is the falcon?" She asked.

Tommy shook his head. "Audrey and James are like brother and sister, you heard that." He pointed to Alex. "They have something."

Audrey and Alex both blushed as Tommy pointed out their obvious attraction to one another.

"It's time for the six of you to go." Tommy said. He handed the map to Trent, assuming Trent might take up the post of the white ranger, whether he did or not, he was one of two experienced rangers. "Use this and seek out Dulcea. She will help you begin your quest."

Trent and the other new rangers nodded.

"Billy? Do you have the coordinates?" Tommy asked him.

"Affirmative." Billy responded.

"Good luck guys." Tommy said before Billy teleported the group to Phaedos.

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"I hope they make it through alright." Tommy said as the six streaks of colored light left the command center.

"Of course they will." Kimberly responded. "I have faith in my girls."

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As the group landed, they looked around. It appeared all six of them made it there and in one piece.

"So where do we go?" Audrey asked, looking around.

Conner shrugged and looked at Trent. "He's the one with the map."

Five pairs of eyes landed on Trent as he unrolled the map and looked over it. "This way." He pointed.

The six rangers began walking in the direction Trent pointed. "So, James." Alana asked, as the two of them fell behind the others. "Celeste?"

James nodded. "Celeste found pictures of Audrey and started asking around about her. For some reason she found it a little unsettling that six months before her, I dated a short blonde gymnast." He shrugged. "When people told her that Audrey was 'everybody's sweetheart' she decided that she was just a rebound relationship and she left me." He let out a little laugh. "Little does she know I accepted that Audrey was right, we are better as friends." He looked over at the girl he now viewed as his little sister. "I just hope that Alex guy treats her right."

Alana's gaze shifted to her best friend. She smiled. "I'm sure he will." She answered. "If he doesn't, he'll have two very angry sisters after him."

James laughed. "Count me in."

Alana extended her hand. "Deal."

James shook her hand and smiled at her.

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Mallory had trailed behind even James and Alana. She was still extremely tired. _Moving and a quest on some unknown planet all in the same day._ She thought to herself. _What luck._ She watched her sister and james talking as her sarcastic thoughts went through her head. She noticed Alana put her hand on James' arm as he spoke. She also watched Alana's body language and facial expressions. _She is so hitting on him. She's hitting on her best friend's ex! _ She rolled her eyes. Did her sister really know no bounds?

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Audrey had favored talking to Conner and Trent, mostly Trent. She listened to their stories as Dino Thunder rangers. She found the stories about Dr. Oliver very interesting. She had been told that Tommy had been a power ranger, but she had yet to hear stories about his ranger experiences. She also listened for what was expected of her. _I wonder if I can really do this._ She thought to herself as she listened to the guys talk. _I wonder if I'm good enough._ Her unspoken thought hit from the second that she woke up. Was she good enough? She was able to be put under a spell to fight the person she liked, the person she was supposed to be on the same side as. That's where Trent came in. He told her his story of becoming a ranger, later than the others. He told her how he had originally been the evil white ranger and that he turned to the good side later on. "You have no idea how encouraging it is to hear you say that."

Trent had recalled Tommy mentioning, before Audrey joined them, that the other had been put under an evil spell. "Why's that?" He asked her.

"Because I was evil for a while." Audrey answered. "I treated people like crap and I tried to fight Alex." Audrey sighed.

Trent smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry, I know how you feel."

Audrey smiled back. "Thanks."

Conner spoke up. "Tommy knows how you feel too. He started out as an evil ranger before joining the first team."

Audrey nodded. "I vaguely remember him telling me that while he was trying to turn me back." She laughed. "It only made me more mad."

As Audrey spoke up, the group was attacked by giant black birds. "Oh wonderful." Audrey said sarcastically. Just what they needed. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy. She used some of her training to fight off a couple of the birds. Conner and Trent used their own experience as former rangers. Mallory, Alana and James just watched the others and tried to copy what they were doing.

It was hard, but the birds finally flew away. The group of six got together and made sure everyone was okay. "Something tells me we haven't seen the last of them." Conner told them. "So be on guard."

Trent checked the map to make sure they hadn't gotten turned around. The group began walking once more.

This time, Audrey fell back with Mallory. "So how have you been, girl?" Mallory asked her.

Audrey nodded. "Let's just say, the move to Angel Grove has been interesting."

"Oh?" Mallory asked.

"Yeah, I'll explain it all eventually, right now I'm wiped out."

Mallory laughed. "I know the feeling." She still wanted that nap.

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"I wonder how they're doing." Kimberly asked the group nervously. The couldn't have gotten far enough through yet. The group waited around hoping the six would make it through alright.

"Do you think they've found Dulcea yet?" Aisha asked.

Tommy shrugged. "I don't know. I hope they're okay though."

The group nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure they will be." Adam spoke up. "I mean, we got out of there safely."

Rocky nodded. "Adam's right. They'll be fine."

"I can try to find them and bring them up on the viewing globe." Billy said.

The others nodded and waited. Before long, six people showed up on the viewing globe. They were walking across Phaedos. They all looked to be in one piece.

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After what seemed like forever, the group finally made it to the plateau. They assembled there and a woman appeared before them. "You come to seek the powers of the Ninjetti?" She asked them.

Trent nodded. "We were sent here by our old science teacher." He told her.

"Who is this science teacher and what gives him the authority and power to send you here?"

"Dr. Tommy Oliver." Conner answered. "Former green, white, red and black rangers."

The woman nodded. "Yes, Tommy. The falcon." She responded inrecognition. "I remember them well. I am Dulcea, the mater warrior of Phaedos." She introduced herself. She looked over the six standing in front of her. "You." She said, pointing to Audrey. "You have the power of the crane within you."

Audrey blushed and nodded. She always hated being singled out, unless it was gymnastics.

"How did you get this power?" Dulcea asked her.

"My gymnastics coach passed it to me. She was getting sick and commanded to pass it on."

"I see." Dulcea said. "Well, the crane is not your animal spirit. We will get this sorted momentarily, but first." She hit her stick to the ground and all six of them appeared in ninja outfits, each a different color.

A/N: Yes, I am ending this chapter here. The colors will be revealed next chapter. Read and review please. I'm interested in your thoughts.


	21. Quest for the Ninjetti Part II

A/N: And now the colors and animals will be presented...

Reviews:

**riverkirby**: Six Earth rangers and one Triforian.

**Lavonne Adams**: I have plans, but won't say yet.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers. I own Audrey, Mallory, Alana, James, Alexis, Courtney, Brittany and the new Ninjetti animal spirits.

**Chapter Twenty-One: Quest for the Ninjetti - Part II**

Alexis arrived in Angel Grove, her new home. She sighed as she fell back onto her bed. This was going to suck, royally. She was the gymnastics team captain in Miami. The students in her school feared her. How much will people fear a new student? They won't! Everything she worked for up to this point was gone. Gone! She stood up and began unpacking her belongings. "Home, sweet, home." She said sarcastically.

"Alexis, honey?" Maddison Sherman called into her daughter's room.

"Yes, mother?" She asked dryly.

"We need to go to the high school and get you enrolled. I would like for you to start tomorrow."

"Oh yay." She put her bear down and walked out of her room. "Ready mother." She said, affecting her most sickly sweet voice.

Alexis and Maddison headed over to the high school to enroll.

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The former rangers watched as the Ninjetti garb appeared on the young rangers.

They all seemed pleased with the colors chosen for their charges.

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The new rangers looked around at one another to see who got what colors. Once they took note, they looked to Dulcea for further instructions.

Dulcea nodded and walked back and forth in front of the rangers. She stopped in front of Trent, who was adorned in white. "Trent, powerful and majestic, you are the eagle, the leader of this group. Lead them well." She moved on to Conner, who once again favored red. "Conner, fast and determined, you are the cheetah." She moved on along the line. James stood before her, head to toe in black. "James, fiery and competitive, you are the stallion." She moved on to Mallory, dressed in blue. "Mallory, cunning and crafy, you are the fox." Next, Mallory's sister was dressed in yellow. "Alana, fearless and strong, you are the lion." She moved, finally, to Audrey. "Audrey, you had been given the powers of the crane, true you are very similar to Kimberly. However, as I said before, the crane is not yours to command. You shall command the swan, graceful and elegant." Once she finished explaining each animal spirit to their owners, she explained their quest to them. If they completed the quest, they would be able to leave the planet and defend Earth as the new Ninjetti rangers. Their question would include many trials and they would have to work through each one.

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"So what do you know?" Kimberly asked. "Tommy was right."

Tommy smiled. "It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."

Kimberly rolled her eyes and slapped at him, playfully.

Trini and Aisha watched the ex-couple, amused. They might not know it, but they would be together again and soon.

Jason, too, kept an eye on his little sister and Tommy. He wanted so badly to see the gleam in Kimberly's eyes once more. He knew it would take time for both Tommy and Kimberly, but he wanted to see them both happy.

Adam and Zack were over by Billy, talking to him. "Come on Billy, you seriously haven't asked her out yet?" Adam asked.

Billy sighed. "It's not that easy."

Zack laughed. "You just need some advice from the master at getting a ladies attention."

Adam looked at him. "You really haven't changed, have you?"

Billy smiled. Zack was the same old Zack. He remembered his many failed attempts at grabbing the attention of Angela. Though he had eventually gotten her attention, he had many near misses before it worked. "Trini's my best friend." He said, lowering his voice so that the woman in question wouldn't hear.

"Aisha was my best friend." Adam told him. "Now she's my loving wife."

Billy nodded. "As much as I would love that, I don't know how she feels. I don't want to ruin what we have."

Zack gave Billy a look. "I've known Trini as long as you have, I know without a doubt she likes you. I also know that if she didn't, it wouldn't mess with your friendship. She cares about you too much."

Billy sighed. "I might ask her later."

Zack and Adam both nodded. "You will."

Rocky sat alone thinking about Sierra. Should he have given her more information about where he went? He sighed to himself as he thought about her. If he ever loved a woman, it was definitely her.

As the former rangers continued doing all they hda been doing, six of them were suddenly teleported from the command center, leaving three.

A/N: I know _short_ chapter, but this is it. Where did they go? Who went? What will the new rangers have to do? R/R please!


	22. Quest for the Ninjetti Part III

A/N: So things have gotten really hectic and I have put my writing aside, but I'm back for now.

Reviews:

**GinaStar**: I don't _try_ to be mean, it just happens.

**ThePink1 at Reefside**: You'll see.

**riverkirby**: Glad you like the animals.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. I do own Audrey, Mallory, Alana, James, Alexis, Brittany and Courtney as well as Amber, Haley and Renae.

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Quest for the Ninjetti - Part III**

Trini, Zack and Jason stared at the command center. What just happened? Jason looked around just seconds ago, Tommy and Kimberly were sitting right there joking around with one another.

Trini had seen the same thing, but she had also been talking to Aisha about it, who was also now gone.

Zack had been talking to Billy and Adam and they were gone. "Where did they go?" Zack asked the other two.

Jason and Trini both shrugged. "They couldn't have been kidnapped, could they?" Trini asked uncertainly.

"Not from the command center... I don't think." Jason looked around the command center almost expecting the others to come out.

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Alexis returned to her room after being enrolled in her classes. "Tomorrow." She said with a sigh. "Tomorrow I start school in this small town hell." This sucked. This really truly sucked. She was going to have to start searching around for gymnastics schools. She doubted she would find one in Angel Grove, but Los Angeles probably had an abundance of them. She decided she would begin with Angel Grove anyway. She opened their brand new phone book and began thumbing through the pages. She ran her finger down the page it would be found on, her finger stopped suddenly. "Kimberly Hart's Gymnastics Studio." She read aloud. "Now that's odd, I thought that was located in Orlando." She picked up her cell and dialed the number. She let it ring a few times and got redirected to voice mail. She groaned and looked at her watch. Surely someone would be there, right? She left a message saying she was interested in classes, then looked at the address. She would go in and see if anyone was there.

She walked in and looked around. She saw pictures along the walls. The first ones were of a young Kimberly during her own gymnastics meets and competitions. The further along the wall you went, the older Kimberly got. She finally got to pictures of Kimberly's Pan Global days. She looked over the team. They had been her heroes. As she moved on, there was a picture of her new studio when it had just opened, and pictures of her students at meets. There were also many pictures of her with her students. Many of these pictures included Audrey. She looked over the pictures from Audrey at age ten all the way through sixteen. Alexis shook her head. Would Kimberly not accept her just because of her personal feelings toward Audrey?

She walked into the room and looked out on the floor. She saw three students doing warmups. "Is the coach around?" She asked them.

Amber looked up at the newcomer. She shook her head. "I knocked on her office door a couple of minutes ago and it doesn't seem like she's around."

"Thanks." She said. "Which class is this?"

"Champion." Haley piped in.

"Small class." Alexis told them. "Back home my class was ten students."

"There are usually four." Renae told her. She looked around. It was strange for Audrey to miss a practice.

Amber stood up. "I'm Amber Lockhart." She said, walking over to the girl and shaking her hand.

"Alexis Sherman." She responded.

"Haley Smith." Haley said, taking the spot next to Amber.

Renae joined them. "Renae James."

"It's nice to meet you guys." Alexis said. "Do you happen to know when she might be around?"

The girls all shook their heads. "Usually she's around now." Amber told her.

Alexis nodded. "Well hopefully I'll contact her soon." She answered. She gave each girl a smile then walked out.

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Trent led the others from the plateau in the direction they were to be heading. From what they all heard, whatever lay ahead of them wasn't going to be easy. They would have to make use of these new powers and hope they had it right.

The others followed behind Trent. Trent was going to be their leader and they were going to have to accept this. The two who had the most problems with this were Conner and James.

Though in essense Tommy had been the leader of the Dino Thunder rangers, he had trained Conner in leadership capacity and now he had to answer to the evil guy who had joined the team later.

James' animal spirit fit him more than anyone knew. Except maybe Audrey. James always had a problem answering to someone else. He had been captain of the football team in high school and the years prior everything was working toward captain. He hated being second in command or lower. He guessed this was something he was going to have to work past.

As the team trudged along, they began talking amongst themselves. Alana and Audrey were talking this time, James and Conner, Mallory and Trent.

Audrey and Alana were talking about boys, strangely enough, the subject kept getting onto James. Audrey wasn't sure why that was.

James and Conner were mostly discussing their reasons for having to accept Trent as the leader and their problems with it. Conner told him he liked Trent and all, but being under Trent's lead wasn't his idea of the way it should be. James explained that as his animal spirit suggested, he hated being under _anyone's _ lead but his own. That was where the two shared their connection.

Mallory and Trent talked mostly about what was going to be expected of them. Trent, the experienced ranger gave his thoughts, but of course this was new territory, he knew he wouldn't be using his white dino gem to defeat Mesogog, that was in the past. The powers and the evil were very new to him. He didn't even have a quest like this for his last powers.

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Kimberly looked around. How did they get there? She looked for the other eight. She saw Tommy, Aisha, Rocky, Adam and Billy, but the other three were missing. Or maybe they were the ones missing. "Where are the others?" She asked them.

Tommy shook his head. He didn't know. He didn't know how they got there either. All he knew was _where_ they were.

"I never thought I'd see this place again." Aisha said, dusting off her yellow skirt.

The others nodded in agreement. "I _hoped_ I'd never see this place again. Adam said, in response to his wife's comment.

The unspoken question on everyone's mind was the same. _How did we get here?_ "Someone teleported us here." Billy said. "I'm unable to compute who it might have been."

Kimberly looked at Billy. "Why can't Trini be here?"

The others laughed.

Billy shrugged. "If you look around. We've been here before. We were chosen, this wasn't an accident or random."

Tommy nodded. "That makes sense." He said, looking around. "Do you think the others are in trouble?" He asked, referring to the six new rangers.

Adam looked around. "I'm not sure." He said. "We had been able to get out of our trouble."

"Come on." Tommy said. "Let's try to at least find Dulcea. Maybe she can give us answers."

The others nodded in agreement and followed after him toward the plateau.

A/N: Okay, so I told someone the quest was either going to be 3 or 4 parts, there's a chance it will be 5... then again who knows, I might put more in and make it longer. Read and review please!


	23. Quest for the Ninjetti Part IV

A/N: Wow, so I only thought I was back after the last chapter. I pretty much disappeared from the internet entirely. I'm here for now though. If any of my old readers happen to pay attention and notice this update, thank you tons for sticking with me. I really apologize for the long delay. Yeah things got really hectic. That goes for my cousin as well. I'm not sure when she will be updating. So as far as the chapter goes, we have the six new rangers on Phaedos and now we have discovered six of the former rangers have been taken there.

Reviews:

**Lavonne Adams**: Sorry I didn't update soon enough. I hope you're still reading though.

**GinaStar**: I'm sorry, where did I lose you?

**riverkirby**: I'm glad you liked it before I disappeared. I hope you are still reading too.

**ThePink1 at Reefside**: I was actually trying to be secretive about that where they were.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. I do own all of the characters in this fic who are not affiliated with Power Rangers though.

**Chapter 23: Quest for the Ninjetti - Part IV**

Angel Grove

Alexis walked from the gymnastics studio back to her home. As she walked, she thought of Audrey. She knew Audrey lived somewhere in California, but she wasn't sure where. She really wondered if this gymnastics school would compete against Audrey's, because one thing was certain. No matter where Audrey Evans lived, she would continue to compete in gymnastics.

So Alexis had met three of her four future classmates. She was curious as to what the other one was like. They seemed a little weirded out that this girl missed practice, but then again, the coach wasn't there either. She couldn't help but wonder if they were related. This girl wasn't a coach's favorite, was she? She scrunched her nose. She better not be, Alexis coveted that position and anyone who stood in her way would be taken down. This, she had no doubts of.

As she reached her home, she walked across the lawn toward the front porch. As soon as she reached the porch, her keys dropped and Alexis was gone in a streak of white light.

Command Center

"Whoever it was couldn't have left Billy could they?" Zack asked, attempting to crack a joke. He was half serious though. If Billy was there, he could probably locate the others on the viewing globe.

Trini looked up at the mention of Billy's name. "What's that?"

Jason smirked slightly at Trini's reaction. Of course if anything would bring her out of the daze she had been in for the past couple of hours it would be the name of her life long crush. "Zack was just saying that if we had Billy here he could help locate the others."

Trini nodded a little. She may not be as good with the controls in the command center, but she had learned quite a bit from Billy during her short time as a ranger. "I'll see if I can do anything. It's better than sitting here idle." With that, she stood up and walked over to the controls, hoping she could find something.

Plateau on Phaedos

Tommy, Rocky, Adam, Billy, Aisha and Kimberly finally made it to the plateau and looked around. In all the years it had been since they were there on their Ninjetti quests, the place hadn't changed. Perhaps there were more corpses of failed travellers, but in general it looks all too much the same.

The increased number of corpses unsettled Kimberly a little bit. She couldn't help but think the reason they were brought there was because something went terribly wrong with their chosen team.

Tommy glanced over at Kimberly. He noticed she looked a little discouraged and he walked over to her. If anyone could read Kimberly Hart it was him, even after all these years apart. "Hey Beautiful, what's up?" he asked her as he pushed a piece of her hair out of her face.

She smiled faintly and crossed her arms. "I'm just a little worried about them," she said softly, looking out off the plateau. Three of the six out there were her own students. She knew another though he hadn't been one of her students, he had certainly spent enough time at the studio waiting on Audrey.

Tommy nodded and hugged Kimberly tightly. "I'm a little worried too, you know. Trent and Conner have become something like sons to me."

Kimberly hugged Tommy back, thankful for the comfort. She held on tightly for as long as she could. "Are we sure they were ready for this, Tommy?"

Tommy nodded. "I'm sure they will get through this."

Kimberly bit her lower lip gently. Oh how she hoped he was right.

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Aisha and Adam stood together on the other side of the plateau. It felt so weird to be back there after so many years. Aisha kept stealing glances over at Kimberly and Tommy, just like she had in the command center. There was definitely more going on between those two than they were letting on. More than likely there was more going on between them than either of them realized.

Rocky and Billy stood about half way between the other two pairs. Billy looked somber and Rocky was trying to joke him out of it. It wasn't working for some reason though. Billy had someone else on his mind. Someone he couldn't shake, but he was willing to bet was extremely worried about them. He hoped she was worried about him.

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As the six teenagers continued on their quest, they continued talking among one another. Alana and Audrey talked this time, while Trent and James talked and Conner and Mallory.

"Do you think it would bother you..." Alana trailed off as she tried to find the best way to word the question she wanted to ask her best friend. "If I were to develop a crush on someone... say an ex-boyfriend of yours?" she glanced at her best friend nervously, not sure how she would react to that.

Audrey smirked a little. Since Mallory and Audrey had already been discussing Alana and James' possible attraction to one another, the question really didn't surprise her. "Alana, I know you have a thing for James."

Alana bit her lower lip as she gave her best friend a pleading glance. "I didn't mean to..." she glanced ahead at Trent and James. "There's just..."

Audrey smiled. "It's fine, 'Lana, really."

Alana gave Audrey a questioning look. "Really? You don't mind?"

Audrey shook her head. "I think it's cute. Besides, I have Alex. Well... I might have Alex." She was still unsure where the two of them stood. She really liked him and that kiss told her the feeling was mutual...

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Trent became more and more wary as he walked on. Something told him he might not return home from this one. He glanced back at the girls. "The yellow one..." he said nodding over to Alana and Audrey. "is she your girlfriend?" he smiled a little thinking of a yellow one who had been on his mind a lot lately.

James looked back at the two girls and shook his head. "Alana likes to flirt a lot. I doubt she's actually attracted to me." he laughed a little. "Besides, the pink one is my ex."

Trent raised his eyebrows. The two had seemed close, but he wouldn't have pegged them as a couple - past or present. "Okay man, whatever you say," he sighed softly as Kira entered his thoughts once again.

"Someone on your mind?" James asked him curiously. He didn't really want to overstep his bounds with the guy who was going to be the leader of this team, but that sgh definitely sounded like a girl on the mind sigh.

"Yeah, actually there is," Trent answered. "There's a girl I had a crush on in high school," he glanced back at the yellow clad girl behind him. "She likes yellow too."

It was James' turn to raise his eyebrows. Did Trent just tell him that he had been through something like this before?

Trent noticed the raised eyebrows and smirked a little. "Dr. Oliver, the man in black back at that command center?" he asked, hoping James would know who he was talking about.

James nodded after a moment. "The one who likes Kimberly?"

Trent laughed and nodded. He had gotten that much about the woman dressed in pink. Her name. "Yeah him. Well he was my high school science teacher. Anyway, Conner," he pointed back to the red and blue clad people in the back. "A guy named Ethan and a girl named Kira became power rangers a few years back. Before long, Dr. Oliver joined them, then..." he sighed. He really hated this part. "I became an evil ranger. I fought the other four, but then eventually my dad broke the gems hold on me and I joined the team."

James shook his head. "That's some story man."

Trent laughed. "Yeah, maybe one day I'll give you more details."

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"Are you telling me you've done this before?" Mallory asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, not this, exactly," Conner replied, gesturing to the planet around them. "But yes, I've been a power ranger."

Mallory shook her head. "Before today I've never even heard of power rangers before," she laughed a little.

Conner nodded. "Believe me, I was in your shoes once," he answered her. "When Kira, Ethan and I found the gems, we were really freaked out by the whole thing."

Mallory nodded. "I'm a little freaked."

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."

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"Welcome back," Kimberly and Tommy turned to the direction of the voice. There stood Dulcea. "It's good to see all of you again." She walked around the plateau, gesturing all of the former rangers to gather around her.

"Dulcea, what are we doing here?" Tommy asked her, a worried tone in his voice.

"Don't worry, my Falcon, your teenagers are safe," she smiled at the six before her. "You picked a wonderful set of teenagers to embark upon this quest."

Kimberly sighed in relief as she stood next to Tommy. They were safe. "But why are we here?"

"My agile Crane, you are here because you are being called to mentor the kids you sent here," Dulcea answered her. "Each of you still has the power of your animal spirit within you. Now you will use these to a new level. A level you never knew possible. Last time you were here you were just learning. Now you are teaching."

As she finished that last word, each one appeared once again in their ninjetti clothes. "You will not fight this time, your time fighting is done." She gave Tommy a knowing smile. Yes, she knew he had once again taken up the role of a power ranger more recently.

"What do you mean a new level?" Aisha asked her, confused.

"You will soon find out, my Bear."

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A/N: I know it's short, but there are things I'm not ready to disclose to the next chapter. The next chapter will end the Quest for the Ninjetti series. I think... lol Never hold me to my promises.


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